A Variational Nonlocal Phase-Field Model for Dynamic Fracture in Elastic Solids

We develop a variational nonlocal phase-field model for dynamic fracture in elastic solids. The proposed formulation is distinguished by three main features. First, the model is formulated through nonlocal kinematics and kernel-dependent function spaces, allowing weaker regularity requirements while recovering the classical local theory as the nonlocal interaction domain vanishes. Second, a nonlocal crack-surface functional is introduced as an integral counterpart of the Ambrosio–Tortorelli regularization, so that the characteristic length of the diffusive crack is implicitly determined by the nonlocal interaction domain rather than by a prescribed length scale. Third, the degraded nonlocal elastic energy and the nonlocal crack-surface functional are combined into a variationally consistent dynamic fracture system, consisting of a nonlocal momentum balance and an irreversible nonlocal gradient-flow evolution law for the phase field. The coupled system is solved using two temporal discretization strategies: a structure-preserving scalar auxiliary-variable scheme and a staggered alternating scheme, both combined with finite element discretization in space. Numerical examples involving Mode-I fracture, dynamic crack branching, Kalthoff–Winkler-type shear fracture, and fragmentation show that the proposed model captures complex crack initiation, propagation, branching, and interaction without explicit crack tracking. Quantitatively, the predicted crack-tip velocities remain below $0.6c_R$ in the dynamic branching and shear-loading tests, and the shear-loading benchmark gives an inclined crack path of approximately ${48}^{\circ }$, consistent with the characteristic Kalthoff–Winkler fracture pattern.