Model for creep failure with healing

TL;DR

This paper introduces a mean-field fiber bundle model to analyze creep failure with healing, revealing critical behavior and scale-free dynamics near a healing threshold.

Contribution

It presents a novel probabilistic fiber bundle model incorporating healing effects and analyzes its steady states and critical dynamics.

Findings

Steady states depend on a critical healing factor.

Strain fluctuations diverge near the critical point.

Transient strain rate exhibits power-law behavior.

Abstract

To understand the general properties of creep failure with healing effects, we study a mean-field fiber bundle model with probabilistic rupture and rejoining processes. The dynamics of the model are determined by two factors: bond breaking and the formation of new bonds. Steady states are realized due to the balance between breaking and healing beyond a critical healing factor, below which the bundle breaks completely. Correlation between the fluctuating value of strain generated in the model with time at the steady-state leads to a characteristic time that diverges in a scale-free manner as we approach the critical healing factor. Transient behaviors in strain rate also involve a power law with a non-universal exponent.