Scaling for the Coalescence of Microfractures before Breakdown

TL;DR

This paper investigates how microfractures coalesce leading to material breakdown, using numerical models to analyze scaling behaviors, avalanche phenomena, and clustering near failure points, revealing analogies with magnetic systems.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed numerical analysis of fracture coalescence near breakdown, highlighting scaling laws and analogies with spinodal and droplet coalescence phenomena.

Findings

Scaling exponents match mean-field spinodal predictions

Avalanche behavior observed prior to breakdown

Crack clustering shows critical scaling behavior

Abstract

We study the behavior of fracture in disordered systems close to the breakdown point. We simulate numerically both scalar (resistor network) and vectorial (spring network) models with threshold disorder, driven at constant current and stress rate respectively. We analyze the scaling of the susceptibility and the cluster size close to the breakdown. We observe avalanche behavior and clustering of the cracks. We find that the scaling exponents are consistent with those found close to a mean-field spinodal and present analogies between the coalescence of microfractures and the coalescence of droplets in a metastable magnetic system. Finally, we discuss different experimental conditions and some possible theoretical interpretations of the results.