Soft polymers, with elastic moduli ranging from a few kilopascals to tens of megapascals, are important materials with applications spanning biomedical systems and structures for impact protection. Predictive models for deformation, damage, and fracture that can capture the strongly rate-dependent, nonlinear response of these materials remain a critical challenge. In this talk, I will discuss our constitutive modeling framework for highly rate-dependent soft polymers and present its predictions for polyborosiloxane over seven orders of magnitude in strain rate [1]. I will then introduce a proposed model for damage initiation and fracture evolution in rate-dependent soft polymers and compare model predictions with experimental observations [2]. I will conclude by demonstrating that, while gradient-damage formulations in phase-field methods are a numerical necessity for finite element methods [3], they are not necessary for meshless methods for materials in which damage, once initiated, propagates extremely rapidly [4]. REFERENCES [1] A. Konale, Z. Ahmed, P. Wanchoo, and V. Srivastava, A large deformation model for quasi-static to high strain rate response of a rate-stiffening soft polymer, International Journal of Plasticity, 168, 103701, 2023. [2] A. Konale and V. Srivastava, On modeling fracture of soft polymers, Mechanics of Materials, 206, 2025. [3] K. Alkhoury, S.A. Chester, and V. Srivastava, A finite element implementation of a large deformation gradient-damage theory for fracture with Abaqus user material subroutines, Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 331, 111677, 2026. [4] A. Konale and V. Srivastava, A physics-informed neural network for modeling fracture without gradient damage: formulation, application, and assessment, Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 206 Part A, 106395, 2026.