Anomalous Scaling of Fracture Surfaces

TL;DR

This paper investigates the scaling behavior of fracture surfaces in granite, revealing anomalous dynamic scaling with distinct global and local roughness exponents, which has implications for understanding fracture physics.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental evidence of anomalous dynamic scaling in fracture surfaces, distinguishing between global and local roughness exponents.

Findings

Global roughness exponent $ = 1.2$

Local roughness exponent $_{loc} = 0.79$

Implications for fracture physics discussed

Abstract

We argue that fracture surfaces may exhibit anomalous dynamic scaling properties akin to what occurs in some models of kinetic roughening. We determine the complete scaling behavior of the local fluctuations of a brittle fracture in a granite block from experimental data. We obtain a global roughness exponent $\chi = 1.2$ which differs from the local one, $\chi_{loc} = 0.79$. Implications on fracture physics are discussed.