High resolution description of a crack front in a heterogeneous Plexiglas block.
We study experimentally the propagation of an in-plane fracture into a transparent and heterogeneous Plexiglas block. A stable crack propagation in mode I is monitored by an imposed displacement. The experimental setup allows a high resolution observation of the crack front in situ. Self-affine properties of the crack front are described over more than three decades using several techniques: variable bandwidth, return probability, Fourier spectrum, and wavelet analysis. The different methods lead to a roughness exponent of 0.63+/-0.03, consistent with a previous work.
Delaplace
A
A
Fysisk Institutt, Universitetet i Oslo, P.O. Boks 1048 Blindern, 0316 Oslo 3, Norway.
Schmittbuhl
J
J
Måløy
K J
KJ