Refractory materials are essential in industries such as steel, nonferrous metals, and cement, enduring significant strain from thermal shock and mechanical loading throughout their lifespan. Understanding the fracture process is crucial for their performance in industrial settings. These materials are heterogeneous, composed of grains and fines, leading to complex fracture mechanisms influenced by microstructure. The process zone in certain refractories, which exhibit reduced brittleness, can be comparable in size to the crack length, affecting their behavior and deviating from pure linear elasticity. Key fracture parameters, including dissipated energy, crack growth resistance, and macro-crack localization, are vital for characterizing fracture behavior. Accurate experimental observation and characterization are necessary to assess the development of the fracture process zone and overall fracture behavior. Insights into the process zone are critical for refining material models. Currently, an inverse evaluation of a wedge splitting sample aligns with the load-displacement curve, focusing on fracture processes in the ligament area. This thesis aims to develop a method that provides both load-displacement relations and fracture strain distributions consistent with experimental data, allowing for the use of simulation models that consider the complex heterogeneous structure of refractories for both identification and applicatio
