the cracked brazilian disc (cbd) specimen is widely used in order to determine mode-i/ii and mixed-mode fracture toughness of a rock medium. in this study, the stress intensity factor (sif) on the crack-tip in this specimen is calculated for various geometrical crack conditions using the extended-finite element method (x-fem). this method is based upon the finite element method (fem). in this m...

initial cracks occur in high strength concrete sleepers for various reasons, such as shrinkage and wrong curing and long lifetime of over 50 years of sleepers. these cracks may lead to complete failure of the structure. in order to more accurately design the sleepers, fracture mechanics (not strength of materials) should be incorporated. in order to achieve this purpose, it is important to fore...

Generally, the evaluation and assessment critical condition of rill formation are useful for a better understanding of soil erosion processes. The inherence characteristics of soils, which have much dynamic variations on the hill-slopes and are affected by rill formation, are the soil critical shear stress and soil erodibility factors. This study aims to assess experimental rill incision thre...

Generally, the evaluation and assessment of the critical condition of rill formation are useful for a better understanding of soil erosion processes. The inherence characteristics of soils, which have much dynamic variations on the hillslopes and are affected by rill formation, are the soil critical shear stress and soil erodibility factors. This study aims to assess experimental rill incision ...