Combined mode-I and mode-II fracture of ceramics with crack-face grain and/or whisker bridging

Crack-face grain and/or whisker bridging in ceramics was investigated under combined mode-I and mode-II loading. A novel technique for analysing the stress shielding at the crack tip caused by the bridging was proposed, in which the critical values of the local mode-I and mode-II stress intensity factors were numerically derived from an azimuthal angle at the onset of noncoplanar crack extension using the mixed-mode failure criteria. The wedging effect, which induced local mode-I crack opening at the tip, was identified under the combined-mode loading on polycrystalline alumina as well as an alumina matrix composite reinforced with silicon carbide whiskers. The effect was accelerated with the increase in the mode-II component of nominally applied loading and the decrease in the bridging zone length. It was also found that the stress shielding due to the whisker bridging was not only effective for mode-I but also for mode-II crack opening.     

Local waiting time fluctuations along a randomly pinned crack front

The propagation of an interfacial crack along a heterogeneous weak plane of a transparent Plexiglas block is followed using a high resolution fast camera. We show that the fracture front dynamics is governed by local and irregular avalanches with very large size and velocity fluctuations. We characterize the intermittent dynamics observed, i.e., the local pinnings and depinnings of the crack front by measuring the local waiting time fluctuations along the crack front during its propagation. The deduced local front line velocity distribution exhibits a power law behavior, P(v) alpha v-eta with eta=2.55+/-0.15, for velocities v larger than the average front speed . The burst size distribution is also a power law, P(S) alpha S-gamma with gamma=1.7+/-0.1. Above a characteristic length scale of disorder Ld approximately 15 microm, the avalanche clusters become anisotropic providing an estimate of the roughness exponent of the crack front line, H=0.66.     

Shadow optical analysis of dynamic mixed mode loading conditions in impacted izod-type specimens

The crack tip loading conditions in impacted Izod-type specimens are investigated by means of the shadow optical method of caustics. The analysis for evaluating mode-II and mixed mode-I mode-II double caustics for optically anisotropic birefringent materials is developed to correct for erroneous solutions reported in the literature. The long time response of the specimen results in an almost undisturbed mode-I loading, as is expected from quasi-static considerations. In the early time range, however, superimposed mode-II loading conditions are observed; these result from the influences of dynamic wave propagation phenomena. The larger the crack and the nearer the impact point to the crack the larger these effects. Even changes in sign of the loading conditions are observed. Master curves and criteria are developed for establishing specific test conditions with Izod-type specimens leading either to practically pure mode-I conditions of loading or to well-defined controllable mixed mode-I mode-II loading conditions. The results are presented in the form of normalized parameters to allow for a transferability of the established data to any practical problems.     

Fracture of a biopolymer gel as a viscoplastic disentanglement process

We present an extensive experimental study of mode-I, steady, slow crack dynamics in gelatin gels. Taking advantage of the sensitivity of the elastic stiffness to gel composition and history we confirm and extend the model for fracture of physical hydrogels which we proposed in a previous paper (Nature Mater. 5, 552 (2006)), which attributes decohesion to the viscoplastic pull-out of the network-constituting chains. So, we propose that, in contrast with chemically cross-linked ones, reversible gels fracture without chain scission.     

Dynamical event during slow crack propagation

We address the role of material heterogeneities on the propagation of a slow rupture at laboratory scale. With a high speed camera, we follow an in-plane crack front during its propagation through a transparent heterogeneous Plexiglas block. We obtain two major results. First, the slip along the interface is strongly correlated over scales much larger than the asperity sizes. Second, the dynamics is scale dependent. Locally, mechanical instabilities are triggered during asperity depinning and propagate along the front. The intermittent behavior at the asperity scale is in contrast with the large scale smooth creeping evolution of the average crack position. The dynamics is described on the basis of a Family-Vicsek scaling.     

Dynamic exponent in extremal models of pinning

The depinning transition of a front moving in a time-independent random potential is studied. The temporal development of the overall roughness w(L,t) of an initially flat front, , is the classical means to have access to the dynamic exponent. However, in the case of front propagation in quenched disorder via extremal dynamics, we show that the initial increase in front roughness implies an extra dependence over the system size which comes from the fact that the activity is essentially localized in a narrow region of space. We propose an analytic expression for the exponent and confirm this for different models (crack front propagation, Edwards-Wilkinson model in a quenched noise etc.). Received 27 August 1999     

Crack front dynamics across a single heterogeneity

We study the spatiotemporal dynamics of a crack front propagating at the interface between a rigid substrate and an elastomer. We first characterize the kinematics of the front when the substrate is homogeneous and find that the equation of motion is intrinsically nonlinear. We then pattern the substrate with a single defect. Steady profiles of the front are well described by a standard linear theory with nonlocal elasticity, except for large slopes of the front. In contrast, this theory seems to fail in dynamical situations, i.e., when the front relaxes to its steady shape, or when the front pinches off after detachment from a defect. More generally, these results may impact the current understanding of crack fronts in heterogeneous media.     

Self-oscillating regime of crack propagation induced by a local phase transition at its tip

We report an analytical study of propagation of a straight crack with a stress-induced local phase transition at the tip. We obtain its contribution to the dynamic fracture energy in explicit form and demonstrate that it nonmonotonically depends upon the crack tip velocity. We show that its descending part gives rise to the instability of the steady propagation regime. We obtain the dynamic phase diagram and indicate those domains where self-oscillating regimes of the crack motion take place.     

Dynamic instabilities of fracture under biaxial strain using a phase field model

We present a phase-field model of the propagation of fracture under plane strain. This model, based on simple physical considerations, is able to accurately reproduce the different behavior of cracks (the principle of local symmetry, the Griffith and Irwin criteria, and mode-I branching). In addition, we test our model against recent experimental findings showing the presence of oscillating cracks under biaxial load. Our model again reproduces well observed supercritical Hopf bifurcation and is therefore the first simulation which does so.     

Planar cracks in the fuse model

We simulate the propagation of a planar crack in a quasi-two dimensional fuse model, confining the crack between two horizontal plates. We investigate the effect on the roughness of microcrack nucleation ahead of the main crack and study the structure of the damage zone. The two-dimensional geometry introduces a characteristic length in the problem, limiting the crack roughness. The damage ahead of the crack does not appear to change the scaling properties of the model, which are well described by gradient percolation. Received 29 March 2000     

A geometric approach to bistable front propagation in scalar reaction–diffusion equations with cut-off

‘Cut-offs’ were introduced to model front propagation in reaction–diffusion systems in which the reaction is effectively deactivated at points where the concentration lies below some threshold. In this article, we investigate the effects of a cut-off on fronts propagating into metastable states in a class of bistable scalar equations. We apply the method of geometric desingularization from dynamical systems theory to calculate explicitly the change in front propagation speed that is induced by the cut-off. We prove that the asymptotics of this correction scales with fractional powers of the cut-off parameter, and we identify the source of these exponents, thus explaining the structure of the resulting expansion. In particular, we show geometrically that the speed of bistable fronts increases in the presence of a cut-off, in agreement with results obtained previously via a variational principle. We first discuss the classical Nagumo equation as a prototypical example of bistable front propagation. Then, we present corresponding results for the (equivalent) cut-off Schlögl equation. Finally, we extend our analysis to a general family of reaction–diffusion equations that support bistable fronts, and we show that knowledge of an explicit front solution to the associated problem without cut-off is necessary for the correction induced by the cut-off to be computable in closed form.     

基于准连续介质方法模拟纳米多晶体Ni中裂纹的扩展

通过准连续介质方法模拟了纳米多晶体Ni中裂纹的扩展过程.模拟结果显示:裂纹尖端的应力场可以导致晶界分解、层错和变形孪晶的形成等塑性形变,在距离裂纹尖端越远的位置,变形孪晶越少,在裂纹尖端附近相同距离处,层错要远多于变形孪晶.这反映了局部应力的变化以及广义平面层错能对变形孪晶的影响.计算了裂纹尖端附近区域原子级局部静水应力的分布.计算结果表明:裂纹前端晶界处容易产生细微空洞,这些空洞附近为张应力集中区,并可能促使裂纹沿着晶界扩展.模拟结果定性地反映了纳米多晶体Ni中的裂纹扩展过程,并与相关实验结果符合得很好     

Frictional shear cracks

We discuss crack propagation along the interface between two dissimilar materials. The crack edge separates two states of the interface, “stick” and “slip.” In the slip region, we assume that the shear stress is proportional to the sliding velocity; i.e., the linear viscous friction law is valid. In this picture, the static friction appears as the tile Griffith threshold for crack propagation. We calculate the crack velocity as a function of the applied shear stress and find that the main dissipation comes from the macroscopic region and is mainly due to the friction at the interface. The relevance of our results to recent experiments, Baumberger et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 075509 (2002), is discussed.     

Three-dimensional characterisation and modelling of small fatigue corner cracks in high strength Al-alloys

The growth of fatigue cracks at small length scales is known to be influenced by a variety of factors, including local microstructure, varying stress states and crack shape. High resolution computed tomography allows for sub-micron resolution imaging of failure processes in small test coupons undergoing in situ cyclic loading, providing detailed three-dimensional (3D) assessment of propagation processes across the entire crack front (surface and depth). In this work fatigue crack growth has been examined in an advanced Direct Chill (DC) cast aluminium alloy, along with a fine grained powder-metallurgy alloy. The latter is identified as a model material, offering considerably simpler microscopic crack paths than the DC cast alloy, and hence a means of separating bulk mechanical effects (such as stress state variations across a crack front and plasticity induced closure) from microstructural effects (such as crystallographic deflection and roughness induced crack closure). Crack growth has been studied in both materials under both constant amplitude (CA) and single peak overload (OL) conditions. Experimental results are presented in the present paper, particularly in relation to micromechanical understanding of failure. A modelling approach based on those results, and some typical results, is also presented.     

Damage and fracture evolution in brittle materials by shape optimization methods

This paper is devoted to a numerical implementation of the Francfort–Marigo model of damage evolution in brittle materials. This quasi-static model is based, at each time step, on the minimization of a total energy which is the sum of an elastic energy and a Griffith-type dissipated energy. Such a minimization is carried over all geometric mixtures of the two, healthy and damaged, elastic phases, respecting an irreversibility constraint. Numerically, we consider a situation where two well-separated phases coexist, and model their interface by a level set function that is transported according to the shape derivative of the minimized total energy. In the context of interface variations (Hadamard method) and using a steepest descent algorithm, we compute local minimizers of this quasi-static damage model. Initially, the damaged zone is nucleated by using the so-called topological derivative. We show that, when the damaged phase is very weak, our numerical method is able to predict crack propagation, including kinking and branching. Several numerical examples in 2d and 3d are discussed.     

Quenching of the nonlocal electron heat transport by large external magnetic fields in a laser-produced plasma measured with imaging thomson scattering

We present a direct measurement of the quenching of nonlocal heat transport in a laser-produced plasma by applying large external magnetic fields (>10 T). The temporally resolved Thomson-scattering measurements of the electron temperature profile show that the heat front propagation transverse to a high-power laser beam is slowed resulting in extremely strong local heating. We find agreement with hydrodynamic modeling when including a magnetic field model that self-consistently evolves the fields in the plasma.     

基于$lt;i$gt;J$lt;/i$gt;积分的颗粒煤岩单轴压缩下裂纹扩展研究

颗粒煤岩是由众多离散的煤岩颗粒组成的固态多层次多结构物质,具有煤岩与颗粒物质的双重性质,其裂纹扩展规律可以从煤岩力学特性和颗粒物质多尺度特性进行研究. 首先,从能量角度对线弹性材料受压破坏,裂纹扩展产生原因进行了阐述,指出线弹性阶段裂纹的扩展动力源自应变能的释放. 然后,通过物理实验和数值试验从宏观和细观两方面对颗粒煤岩受压破裂过程中裂纹扩展做了进一步研究,结果表明:颗粒煤岩完全破裂后,底部会形成一个锥形堆,裂纹的扩展随着煤岩颗粒粒径的减小而减缓,部分裂纹扩展会出现突变点,且裂纹无光滑性;由于煤岩颗粒粒径等引起介质的非均匀性对裂纹扩展有重要的影响,均质度系数越大裂纹起裂时间越晚,声发射能量释放在裂纹扩展的轻度、中度和深度三个不同阶段逐渐变得频繁、剧烈. 研究结果将有利于进一步研究岩土类颗粒材料受压破裂过程的裂纹扩展规律. 关键词： J积分')" href="#">J积分 颗粒煤岩 单轴压缩 裂纹扩展     

Extraction of fracture mechanics parameters from steady-state dynamic crack-tip fields

A procedure for determining the fracture mechanics parameters of interest from full-field optical mechanics data is presented. Examples are presented for crack-tip stress fields recorded using dynamic photoelasticity. Stress-field representations in series form, when combined with local collocation procedures, are shown to be a powerful tool for reliable and accurate parameter determination. The methodology is illustrated and applied to two cases of dynamic crack propagation, one pertaining to opening-mode crack propagation and the other to a smoothly curving crack. Emphasis has been placed on giving guidance to a user on how best to approach implementation of the methodology from a practical standpoint.     

Numerical simulations for description of UV laser interaction with gold nanoparticles embedded in silica

We have performed simulations of laser energy deposition in an engineered absorbing defect (i.e. metal nanoparticle) and the surrounding fused silica taking into account various mechanisms for the defect-induced absorption of laser energy by SiO₂. Then, to simulate the damage process in its entirety, we have interfaced these calculations of the energy absorption with a 2-D Lagrange–Euler hydrodynamics code, which can simulate crack formation and propagation leading to craters. The validation of numerical simulations requires detailed knowledge of the different parameters involved in the interaction. To concentrate on a simple situation, we have made and tested a thin-film system based on calibrated gold nanoparticles (600-nm diameter) inserted between two silica layers. Some aspects of our simulations are then compared with our experimental results. We find reasonable agreement between the observed and simulated crater sizes.