Keynote paper: Models and algorithms for localized failure

This paper deals with various aspects of the computational analysis of strain localization and failure in quasibrittle materials. It gives a general overview of discretization techniques used for the simulation of propagating cohesive displacement discontinuities and discusses their advantages and drawbacks. Attention then shifts to regularized softening continuum models. After a general discussion, various types of integraltype nonlocal damage and plasticity formulations are described and their properties are compared. Finally, the structure of the tangent stiffness matrix for nonlocal damage models is outlined, and stress return algorithms for nonlocal plasticity are briefly commented on.