  The phase field fracture method is attracting significant interest. Phase
field approaches have enabled predicting - on arbitrary geometries and
dimensions - complex fracture phenomena such as crack branching, coalescence,
deflection and nucleation. In this work, we present a simple and robust
implementation of the phase field fracture method in the commercial finite
element package Abaqus. The implementation exploits the analogy between the
phase field evolution law and the heat transfer equation, enabling the use of
Abaqus' in-built features and circumventing the need for defining user
elements. The framework is general, and is shown to accommodate different
solution schemes (staggered and monolithic), as well as various constitutive
choices for preventing damage under compression. The robustness and
applicability of the numerical framework presented is demonstrated by
addressing several 2D and 3D boundary value problems of particular interest.
Focus is on the solution of paradigmatic case studies that are known to be
particularly demanding from a convergence perspective. The results reveal that
our phase field fracture implementation can be readily combined with other
advanced computational features, such as contact, and deliver robust and
precise solutions. The code developed can be downloaded from
www.empaneda.com/codes.
