Onset of fracture in random heterogeneous particle chains

In mechanical systems it is of interest to know the onset of fracture in dependence of the boundary conditions. Here we study a one-dimensional model which allows for an underlying heterogeneous structure in the discrete setting. Such models have recently been studied in the passage to the continuum by means of variational convergence ($\Gamma$-convergence). The $\Gamma$-limit results determine thresholds of the boundary condition, which mark a transition from purely elastic behaviour to the occurrence of a crack. In this article we provide a notion of fracture in the discrete setting and show that its continuum limit yields the same threshold as that obtained from the $\Gamma$-limit. Since the calculation of the fracture threshold is much easier with the new method, we see a good chance that this new approach will turn out useful in applications.