Cohesive solutions of intersonic moving dislocations

A class of cohesive solutions of moving glide dislocations with intersonic speeds has been derived on the basis of the fundamental equation of a moving dislocation introduced by Weertman in conjunction with a proposed generalized Bilby–Cottrell–Swinden–Dugdale model. In this model we assume a straight weak path within an infinite elastic plate. Two length scales, namely the width (thickness) of the weak path and the material intrinsic length, which scales strain-gradient-induced hardening and energy dissipation, are taken into account by applying the traction–separation law for the decohesion of the weak path. Dislocations propagate along this weak path with a speed higher than the shear wave speed. The accumulation of these moving dislocations forms a macroscale crack growth with a cohesive zone ahead of the crack tip. Similar to the Bilby–Cottrell–Swinden–Dugdale model, the remote enforced stress and/or stress-rate boundary conditions are represented as an equivalent crack surface traction associated with the dislocation distribution. The involved Cauchy integral and corresponding eigenvalue problem are solved using the algorithms introduced by Muskhelishvili and by Weertman. The problems associated with three types of decohesion law are constant traction, traction linearly dependent on separation, and separation- and separation-rate-dependent traction. These problems are solved using three different solution strategies: the direct-integration method, the iteration method and the Jacobi polynomial expansion respectively. The derived solutions provide explicit relations between the remote load propagation speed, the material intrinsic length, the weak path thickness and the strain-rate-hardening parameter. The solutions demonstrate that the intersonic speed region can be divided into two subdomains; steady-state propagation occurs within the subdomain where the propagation speeds are equal to or greater than the Eshelby speed (c _s × 2^1/2, where c _s is the shear wave speed). For a weak path with a finite width and the corresponding decohesion law scaled by material intrinsic length, an intersonic crack propagation will not take place if only a constant remote stress is imposed. A ‘steady-state’ crack surface load and/or remote stress-rate boundary condition, which can be considered as a point force or a distributed force with a constant distance to the moving crack tip, is required to maintain steady-state intersonic crack propagation.