Unsteady crack motion and branching in a phase-field model of brittle fracture.
Crack propagation is studied numerically using a continuum phase-field approach to mode III brittle fracture. The results shed light on the physics that controls the speed of accelerating cracks and the characteristic branching instability at a fraction of the wave speed.
Karma
Alain
A
Department of Physics and Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Complex Systems, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Lobkovsky
Alexander E
AE