Experimental and analytical insights on fracture trajectories in brittle materials with voids

TL;DR

This paper combines experimental, numerical, and analytical approaches to study fracture trajectories in brittle materials with voids, revealing new dynamic features like crack kinking and surface roughness.

Contribution

It provides systematic experimental and numerical validation of asymptotic models for crack paths in solids with voids, including dynamic fracture behaviors.

Findings

Validation of asymptotic predictions for crack trajectories

Observation of crack kinking in dynamic regimes

Identification of fracture surface roughness phenomena

Abstract

Analytical models have been developed for fracture propagation over the last several decades and are now considered with renewed interest; the range of their applicability varies for different materials and different loading conditions. Systematic experimental measurements and numerical simulations are presented against an asymptotic prediction for the crack trajectory developing in solids with small voids (of circular and elliptical shape). The experiments also cover the dynamic regime, where new features involving crack kinking and roughness of the fracture surface occur.