Applied Fracture Mechanics

The book "Applied Fracture Mechanics" presents a collection of articles on application of fracture mechanics methods to materials science, medicine, and engineering. In thirteen chapters, a wide range of topics is discussed, including strength of biological tissues, safety of nuclear reactor components, fatigue effects in pipelines, environmental effects on fracture among others. In addition, the book presents mathematical and computational methods underlying the fracture mechanics applications, and also developments in statistical modeling of fatigue. The work presented in this book will be useful, effective, and beneficial to mechanical engineers, civil engineers, and material scientists from industry, research, and education.

Fracture mechanics is a vast and growing field. This book develops the basic elements needed for both fracture research and engineering practice. The emphasis is on continuum mechanics models for energy flows and crack-tip stress- and deformation fields in elastic and elastic-plastic materials. In addition to a brief discussion of computational fracture methods, the text includes practical sections on fracture criteria, fracture toughness testing, and methods for measuring stress intensity factors and energy release rates. Class-tested at Cornell, this book is designed for students, researchers and practitioners interested in understanding and contributing to a diverse and vital field of knowledge.

Modern Applied Fracture Mechanics presents a practical, accessible guide to understanding and applying basic linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) techniques to problems commonly seen in industry, including fatigue analysis, failure analysis, and damage tolerance. Including applications for several software programs, AFGROW, MATLAB®, ABAQUS, and a web-based FM calculator, the book discusses appropriate models, assumptions, and typical input/output parameters. It provides a framework that will enable readers to quickly learn and use fracture mechanics (FM) software packages and/or write their own code to solve unique or standard FM problems. The book covers the fundamental concepts needed to successfully execute routine applications or conduct experimental investigations. End-of-chapter problems are included, along with real-world examples to enhance student understanding. The textbook is appropriate for undergraduate students, preparing them for the industry, and for advanced studies in fracture mechanics at the graduate level. Industry professionals and researchers will find this book a valuable resource for understanding basic fracture mechanics principles and methods. Features include: Provides broad, accessible coverage of common fracture mechanics concepts and applications. Focuses on applications, real-world examples, and numerical methods in fracture analysis. Integrates and explains current end-user software coverage for fracture mechanics. Includes numerous sample problems, software examples, and end-of-chapter problems. Includes a Solutions Manual for adopting instructors.

The analysis of crack problems through fracture mechanics has been applied to the study of materials such as glass, metals and ceramics because relatively simple fracture criteria describe the failure of these materials. The increased attention paid to experimental rock fracture mechanics has led to major contributions to the solving of geophysical problems. The text presents a concise treatment of the physics and mathematics of a representative selection of problems from areas such as earthquake mechanics and prediction, hydraulic fracturing, hot dry rock geothermal energy, fault mechanics, and dynamic fragmentation.

This book covers a wide range of topics in fracture and damage mechanics. It presents historical perspectives as well as recent innovative developments, presented by peer reviewed contributions from internationally acknowledged authors. The volume deals with the modeling of fracture and damage in smart materials, current industrial applications of fracture mechanics, and it explores advances in fracture testing methods. In addition, readers will discover trends in the field of local approach to fracture and approaches using analytical mechanics. Scholars in the fields of materials science, engineering and computational science will value this volume which is dedicated to Meinhard Kuna on the occasion of his 65th birthday in 2015. This book incorporates the proceedings of an international symposium that was organized to honor Meinhard Kuna’s contributions to the field of theoretical and applied fracture and damage mechanics.

The assessment of crack initiation and/or propagation has been the subject of many past discussions on fracture mechanics. Depending on how the chosen failure criterion is combined with the solution of a particular theory of continuum mechanics, the outcome could vary over a wide range. Mod elling of the material damage process could be elusive if the scale level of observation is left undefined. The specification of physical dimension alone is not sufficient because time and temperature also play an intimate role. It is only when the latter two variables are fixed that failure predictions can be simplified. The sudden fracture of material with a pre-existing crack is a case in point. Barring changes in the local temperature,* the energy released to create a unit surface area of an existing crack can be obtained by considering the change in elastic energy of the system before and after crack extension. Such a quantity has been referred to as the critical energy release rate, G e, or stress intensity factor, K Ie. Other parameters, such as the crack opening displacement (COD), path-independent J-integral, etc. , have been proposed; their relation to the fracture process is also based on the energy release concept. These one-parameter approaches, however, are unable simultaneously to account for the failure process of crack initiation, propagation and onset of rapid fracture. A review on the use of G, K I, COD, J, etc. , has been made by Sih [1,2].

Fracture mechanics deals with the cracking behavior of materials, and cracking defines the limit state for many components of engineering systems. Fracture mechanics principles can help us design more robust components to ensure safer airplanes, space shuttles, ships, cranes, buildings, bridges, and mechanical systems. Written by researchers and experts of the field, this book examines recent progress in fracture mechanics applications. Chapters cover such topics as rupture theory, the J-integral, knitted fabric-reinforced polymer composites, and artificial neural networks to detect structural damage, among others. This volume is designed for graduate students, researchers, and practicing engineers.

From a leading expert in fracture mechanics, this text provides new approaches and new applications to advance the understanding of crack formation and propagation.