[1] Sandpile avalanches were used first to illustrate the concept of self-organized criticality (SOC). Snow avalanches consist of two types: (1) loose snow avalanches which release in cohesionless material at the top of the snowpack and (2) slab avalanches which release by propagation of shear fractures originating in a thin weak layer at depth in the snowpack. Loose snow avalanches are analogo...

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM Fracture of an interim fixed partial denture (FPD) may jeopardize the success of the interim prosthodontic treatment phase and cause patient discomfort. PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to compare the fracture toughness of a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) resin and a bis-acryl composite (BAC) resin reinforced with stainless steel wire, glass fiber, and polyethylene f...

The goal of the work presented here is to study dynamic crack initiation in ductile steels "NiÐCr steel and 293 stainless steel# at di}erent loading rates and to establish appropriate dynamic failure criteria[ A variety of infrared and visible optical methods and high!speed photography are used in this study[ Precracked steel specimens are subjected to dynamic three!point bend loading by impact...

a r t i c l e i n f o The purpose of this study is to analytically predict and to experimentally investigate the seismic response of adjacent filled parallel rock fractures with dissimilar properties (e.g., fracture thickness and stiffness). The time-domain recursive method is extended to predict that a P-wave propagates normally across the filled parallel fractures using the specific stiffness...

(2001) Effect of bond thickness on fracture behaviour in adhesive joints. To study the effects of bond thickness on the fracture behaviour of adhesive joints, experimental investigation and finite element analysis have been carried out for compact tension (CT) and double-cantilever-beam (DCB) specimens with different bond thickness. Fractography and fracture toughness exhibited apparent variati...

BACKGROUND Human solid tumors that are hard or firm on physical palpation are likely to be cancerous, a clinical maxim that has been successfully applied to cancer screening programs, such as breast self-examination. However, the biological relevance or prognostic significance of tumor hardness remains poorly understood. Here we present a fracture mechanics based in vivo approach for characteri...

The "EURO" fracture toughness data set is probably the largest comprehensive test for a single material. Previous analysis indicate that the steel in question is very homogeneous. Only one sub-plate appears to have significantly different fracture toughness properties that the others. Until now, no more sophisticated analysis regarding the homogeneity of the material has been performed. Recentl...

The mode I fracture toughness as a function of crack length of medium density fiberboard (MDF), particle board (PB), and Douglas-fir (DF) were all measured using a new energy-based method. PB and MDF are examples of composites that develop fiber bridging during crack propagation, which causes their toughness to increase with crack length. Longitudinal cracks in DF also displayed fiber bridging ...