fracture

A compliantly fixed hemispherical indenter in adhesive contact with an elastic sample firmly bonded to a rigid base is considered under the assumption that the rigid base undergoes small-amplitude high-frequency normal (vertical) oscillations. A general law of the rate-dependent JKR-type adhesion is assumed, which relates the work of adhesion to the contact front velocity. Using the Bogoliubov averaging approach in combination with the method of harmonic balance, the leading-order asymptotic model is constructed for steady-state vibrations.

comment on a recent Nature paper on nucleation of sliding by Fineberg's group

Submitted by Mike Ciavarella on Sun, 01/19/2025 - 04:05

Dear colleagues

Postdoctoral fellowship in Computational Fracture Mechanics at Duke

Submitted by John E. Dolbow on Thu, 12/05/2024 - 15:16

job

fracture

I am happy to announce that a postdoctoral fellowship is available in the Dolbow Research Group at Duke University, working in the area of computational fracture mechanics. The fellowship provides the opportunity to work on an emerging class of complete fracture models that incorporate the three ingredients that are necessary to be predictive with elastic brittle materials: their elasticity, their fracture toughness, and their strength.

Classical variational phase-field models cannot predict fracture nucleation

Submitted by John E. Dolbow on Wed, 09/04/2024 - 14:36

by Oscar Lopez-Pamies, John E. Dolbow, Gilles A. Francfort, and Chris J. Larsen

Abstract

Quenched disorder and instability control dynamic fracture in three dimensions

Submitted by Eran Bouchbinder on Fri, 08/30/2024 - 05:48

out-of-plane structures

mirror-mist-hackle transitions

branching

limiting velocity

disorder

In this work, we show that the combination of material quenched disorder (of finite strength/amplitude and correlation length) and a 2D tip-splitting instability (that gives rise to extra fracture surfaces) is at the heart of the spatiotemporal dynamics of cracks in 3D. Specifically, it is shown to account for the widely observed limiting (terminal) velocity of cracks, mirror-mist-hackle sequence of morphological transitions, crack macro-branching and a 3D-to-2D transition, out-of-plane crack front waves and the properties of micro-branches.

Size selection of crack front defects: Multiple fracture-plane interactions and intrinsic lengthscales

Submitted by Eran Bouchbinder on Thu, 04/11/2024 - 03:25

out-of-plane structures

topological defects

multi-crack interactions

surface steps

facets

Following the previous Blog entry on 3D fracture and out-of-plane crack structures: the essential role of material disorder, we add here a related manuscript (see also attached PDF):

Size selection of crack front defects: Multiple fracture-plane interactions and intrinsic lengthscales

3D fracture and out-of-plane crack structures: the essential role of material disorder

Submitted by Eran Bouchbinder on Mon, 04/01/2024 - 06:09

out-of-plane structures

mirror-mist-hackle transitions

branching

limiting velocity

disorder

In this pair of preprints (see also attached PDFs):

Quenched disorder and instability control dynamic fracture in three dimensions

Facet formation in slow three-dimensional fracture

Monsieur Pineau, as I remember him

Submitted by benzerga on Sun, 03/03/2024 - 01:16

I am deeply saddened by the passing of Andre Pineau in Paris yesterday. I happened to be one of ~100 PhD students he graduated over the course of his career.