A theory for brittle fracture in compression

A symmetric cylindrical body composed of brittle material, if compressed along its generators may collapse progressively, firstly through catastrophic loss of material adjacent to its lateral surface(s). With increase of the compressive load the reduced cylinder, unable to resist, sunders. The first stage of this type of failure can be explained by the assumed existence of latent interior cracks which open abruptly on a curved, symmetric interior surface when the total energy of the body reaches a critical value determined by the geometry of the initial fracture surface.