Related papers: How Material Heterogeneity Creates Rough Fractures
In this contribution, a variational diffuse modeling framework for cracks in heterogeneous media is presented. A static order parameter smoothly bridges the discontinuity at material interfaces, while an evolving phase-field captures the…
Two approaches to incorporate heterogeneity in discrete models are compared. In the first, standard approach, the heterogeneity is dictated by geometrical structure of the discrete system. In the second approach, the heterogeneity is…
We argue that nucleation of brittle cracks in initially flawless soft elastic solids is preceded by a nonlinear elastic instability, which cannot be captured without accounting for geometrical precise description of finite elastic…
Our goal is to unravel the mechanisms that lead to failure of a ductile two-phase material - that consists of a ductile soft phase and a relatively brittle hard phase. An idealized microstructural model is used to study damage propagation…
The propagation of (planar) cracks in a heterogeneous brittle material characterized by a random field of toughness is considered, taking into account explicitly the effect of the crack front roughness on the local stress intensity factor.…
Cracks, the major vehicle for material failure, tend to accelerate to high velocities in brittle materials. In three-dimensions, cracks generically undergo a micro-branching instability at about 40% of their sonic limiting velocity. Recent…
Dynamic crack propagation drives catastrophic solid failures. In many amorphous brittle materials, sufficiently fast crack growth involves small-scale, high-frequency microcracking damage localized near the crack tip. The ultra-fast…
Strong interaction of closely located, nearly parallel hydraulic fractures and its influence on their propagation are studied. Both computational and physical aspects of the problem are considered. It is shown that from the computational…
Brittle solids are often toughened by adding a second-phase material. This practice often results in composites with material heterogeneities on the meso scale: large compared to the scale of the process zone but small compared to that of…
The rock heterogeneity exists widely in fault zones; however, the intrinsic mechanism of how it affects the mechanical behavior of faults is poorly understood. To develop a quantitative understanding of the effect of the rock heterogeneity…
We review recent theoretical progress on the dynamics of brittle crack fronts and its relationship to the roughness of fracture surfaces. We discuss the possibility that the intermediate scale roughness of cracks, which is characterized by…
A liquid droplet resting on a soft gel substrate can deform that substrate to the point of material failure, whereby fractures develop on the gel surface that propagate outwards from the contact-line in a starburst pattern. In this paper,…
Differential shrinkage in particulate quasi-brittle materials causes microcracking which reduces durability in these materials by increasing their mass transport properties. A hydro-mechanical three-dimensional periodic network approach was…
The failure of mechanical metamaterials is a function of the interplay between the properties of the base material and the microstructural geometry. Stochastic failure properties of the base material and disordered microstructural…
When a crack interacts with material heterogeneities, its front distorts and adopts complex tortuous configurations that are reminiscent of the energy barriers encountered during crack propagation. As such, the study of crack front…
The full 2D analysis of roughness profiles of fracture surfaces resulting from quasi-static crack propagation in gelatin gels reveals an original behavior characterized by (i) strong anisotropy with maximum roughness at $V$-independent…
These notes address the mechanics of propagating hydraulic fractures (HF). In the first part, we focus on how different physical mechanisms (dissipation in fluid and solid, fluid storage in fracture and its exchange with permeable rock,…
Patterns on broken surfaces are well-known from everyday experience, but surprisingly, how and why they form are very much open questions. Well-defined facets are commonly observed1-4 along fracture surfaces which are created by slow…
We investigate how material rigidity acts as a key control parameter for the failure of solids under stress. In both experiments and simulations, we demonstrate that material failure can be continuously tuned by varying the underlying…
This article reviews the main features of the transport properties of single fractures. A particular attention paid to fractures in geological materials which often display a roughness covering a broad range of length scales. Because of the…