Related papers: Branching Instabilities in Rapid Fracture: Dynamic…
A continuum model of fracture that describes, in principle, the propagation and interaction of arbitrary distributions of cracks and voids with evolving topology without a fracture criterion is developed. It involves a 'law of motion' for…
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…
Soft polymers are ubiquitous materials in nature and as engineering materials with properties varying from rate-independent to rate-dependent. Current fracture toughness measures are non-unique for rate-dependent soft materials for varying…
We study a class of models for brittle fracture: elastic theory models which allow for cracks but not for plastic flow. We show that these models exhibit, at all finite temperatures, a transition to fracture under applied load similar to…
A planar crack generically segments into an array of "daughter cracks" shaped as tilted facets when loaded with both a tensile stress normal to the crack plane (mode I) and a shear stress parallel to the crack front (mode III). We…
Motivated by recent experiments, we present a study of the dynamics of cracks in thin sheets. While the equations of elasticity for thin plates are well known, there remains the question of path selection for a propagating crack. We invoke…
We study the geometrical characteristic of quasi-static fractures in disordered media, using iterated conformal maps to determine the evolution of the fracture pattern. This method allows an efficient and accurate solution of the Lam\'e…
Using a two dimensional lattice model we investigate the crack growth under the influence of remote tensile forces as well as due to an internally applied pressure (hydraulic fracturing). For homogeneous elastic properties we present…
We analyze a self-consistent theory of crack growth controlled by a cumulative damage variable d(t) dependent on stress history. As a function of the damage exponent $m$, which controls the rate of damage dd/dt \propto sigma^m as a function…
Phase field theory for fracture is developed at large strains with an emphasis on a correct introduction of surface stresses. This is achieved by multiplying the cohesion and gradient energies by the local ratio of the crack surface areas…
We study the necking of a filament of complex fluid or soft solid subject to uniaxial tensile stretching, under conditions of constant imposed stress and force, by means of linear stability analysis and nonlinear simulations. We demonstrate…
While of paramount importance in material science, the dynamics of cracks still lacks a complete physical explanation. The transition from their slow creep behavior to a fast propagation regime is a notable key, as it leads to full material…
A new gradient-based formulation for predicting fracture in elastic-plastic solids is presented. Damage is captured by means of a phase field model that considers both the elastic and plastic works as driving forces for fracture. Material…
Due to the oscillatory singular stress field around a crack tip, interface fracture has some peculiar features. This paper is focused on two of them. One can be reflected by a proposed paradox that geometrically similar structures with…
The focus of the article is on fracture criteria for dynamic crack propagation in elastic materials with microstructures. Steady-state propagation of a Mode III semi-infinite crack subject to loading applied on the crack surfaces is…
Fracture toughness is the material property characterizing resistance to failure. Predicting its value from the solid structure at the atomistic scale remains elusive, even in the simplest situations of brittle fracture. We report here…
Slow crack propagation in ductile, and in certain brittle materials, appears to take place via the nucleation of voids ahead of the crack tip due to plastic yields, followed by the coalescence of these voids. Post mortem analysis of the…
We study a theoretical model of mud cracks, that is, the fracture patterns resulting from the contraction with drying in a thin layer of a mixture of granules and water. In this model, we consider the slip on the bottom of this layer and…
Multi-phase materials, such as composite materials, exhibit multiple competing failure mechanisms during the growth of a macroscopic defect. For the simulation of the overall fracture process in such materials, we develop a two-phase spring…
Experiments on quasistatic crack propagation in gelatin hydrogels reveal a new branching instability triggered by wetting the tip opening with a drop of aqueous solvent less viscous than the bulk one. We show that the emergence of unstable…