Damage Zone Size Limit During the Crack Propagation

On the inviscid limit of a model for crack propagation∗

We study the evolution of a single crack in an elastic body and assume that the crack path is known in advance. The motion of the crack tip is modeled as a rate-independent process on the basis of Griffith’s local energy release rate criterion. According to this criterion, the system may stay in a local minimum before it performs a jump. The goal of this paper is to prove existence of such an e...

Buoyancy-driven crack propagation: the limit of large fracture toughness

Alternating crack propagation during directional drying.

The propagation of fractures during the drying of a colloidal silica suspension confined in a vertical microtube is investigated. During the drying process, the particle concentration increases until gel formation. In the gelled region, the tensile stresses increase and lead to the formation of two vertical perpendicular cracks propagating in the drying direction, dividing the tube into four eq...

From gradient damage laws to Griffith’s theory of crack propagation

This paper is devoted to the comparison of the evolution of damage governed by a gradient damage model with the evolution of a crack predicted by Griffith’s law. The analysis is made in a two-dimensional setting, assuming that damage is concentrated inside thin bands whose width is proportional to the internal length of the material. Taking advantage of the variational formulation based on the ...

Damage Description with Related Crack Initiation and Propagation Conditions

The damage accumulation condition expressed in terms of traction components on a physical plane is considered for both monotonic and cyclic loading conditions. The crack initiation is assumed to correspond to a critical value of damage parameter on a maximum damage plane. A non-local condition is formulated for singular stress or strain regimes. The model is applied to predict damage distributi...