The mesoscopic concept is a way to deal with complex materials with an internal structure within continuum mechanics. It consists of extending the domain of the balance equations by mesoscopic variables and of introducing a local distribution function of these variables as a statistical element. In our case microcracks are modelled as penny shaped and completely characterized by their diameter ...

Cracks emerge due to various forces or stresses. After discerning the cracks preferably by non-destructive techniques, there is a need to find the reason for their appearance. With very exact analysis of the shape, form and dimension of the cracks and their location on the structural elements, we can deduce the reason for their formation.  This makes, proposing a suitable solution for preventin...

Cracks emerge due to various forces or stresses. After discerning the cracks preferably by non-destructive techniques, there is a need to find the reason for their appearance. With very exact analysis of the shape, form and dimension of the cracks and their location on the structural elements, we can deduce the reason for their formation. This makes, proposing a suitable solution for preventing...

The role of grain bridging in affecting the initial rising portion of the R-curve and the transient, non-steady-state behavior of short cracks during (cyclic) fatigue-crack propagation has been quantitatively examined in a 99.5% pure alumina. Fatigue-crack growth properties for both long and short ( af < 2 mm) cracks emanating from machined notches (root radius, 15–150 m) were investigated, whe...

Multidirectional composite laminates have been increasingly used as primary load-bearing structures in many applications such as aircraft frames, wings, and turbine or wind-mill blades, owing to their excellent weight-to-strength ratios, better environmental resistance, and much improved long-term durability. Such highperformance polymer matrix composites typically consist of dozens of unidirec...

The relationship between the crack nucleation and stress-induced martensitic transformation in the retained massive austenites (RM’s) of austempered ductile irons (ADIs) was examined in detail by carrying out tensile tests and scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations for an ADI material. The SEM observations revealed that cracks were not nucleated in the peripheral regions of graphite no...

We present numerical simulations of the fall of a two dimensional (2D) model granular material in a rectangular container and study the decompactionof this granular assembly consisting of non-cohesive particles. During the fall we observe the occurrence of cracks splitting the initial pile into pieces. Cracks preferentially occur in the lower part of the array, an eeect also observed experiment...

* Corresponding author; Email: [email protected] ABSTRACT An important task in mixed-mode fracture analysis and prediction is the simulation of crack growth under mixed-mode conditions. To complete such a task, one must have (a) a computer code capable of handling the kinematics of general crack growth and determining the stress and deformation states during crack growth, and (b) a fracture crit...

We have considered the problem of elastic wave velocities in a matrix containing aligned ellipsoidal fluid-filled cracks. This problem is relevant o a variety of geophysical pplications, including crustal and mantle seismology and the behavior of stressed and dilatant rock. When the cracks are ellipsoids of revolution, the composite is transversely isotropic and is describable with five elastic...