Fundamental aspects for characterization in continuum damage mechanics

New issues, derivations, and remarks are presented for the subject of continuum damage mechanics. Emphasis is placed on the fundamental and basic aspects of damage mechanics. This work is a continuation of a previous work of the authors and provides for a complete analysis of the issues discussed previously. The topics discussed include: (1) the true nature of the damage–integrity angle, (2) modeling damaged solids as composite systems, (3) hypothesis of strain equivalence as a special case of the hypothesis of elastic energy equivalence, (4) mechanics of damaged beams, (5) a mean value theorem for damage mechanics, (6) partial damage mechanics characterization, (7) micro-damage or nano-damage, (8) crack and void mechanics, and (9) conceptual modeling of interfacial damage. It is hoped that these new and fundamental concepts will pave the way for new, consistent, and holistic avenues in research in damage mechanics and characterization of materials