Abstract:The uniaxial tension of porous materials with single-edged notch was simulated based on peridynamics method. The validity of the numerical simulation was verified by comparing with the data in the literatures. Based on the simulation of the materials with porosity ranging from 3% to 15%, the variation rule of fracture toughness of porous materials was obtained, and the toughening mechanism of porous materials was proposed. The results show that under the uniaxial tension, the fracture toughness of porous materials increases firstly and then decreases with the increase of porosity, and with a peak value at the porosity of 12%. During uniaxial tensile process, the deflection of primary crack and initiation of secondary crack, which caused by the attraction of local pore system, are the main reasons for the improvement of the fracture toughness of porous materials.