Fractal kinematics of crack propagation in geomaterials

✍ Scribed by Heping Xie; David J. Sanderson

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 466 KB
• Volume: 50
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0013-7944
• DOI: 10.1016/0013-7944(94)00203-t

✦ Synopsis

Experimental results indicate that propagation paths of cracks in geomaterials are often irregular, producing rough fracture surfaces which are fractal. A formula is derived for the fractal kinematics of crack propagation in geomaterials. The formula correlates the dynamic and static fracture toughness with crack velocity, crack length and a microstructural parameter, and allows the fractal dimension to be obtained. From the equations for estimating crack velocity and fractal dimension it can be shown that the measured crack velocity (1Io) should be much smaller than the fractal crack velocity (V). It can also be shown that the fractal dimension of the crack propagation path can be calculated directly from V o and from the fracture toughness.