title: Statistics of fracture surfaces.
abstract: We analyze the statistical distribution function for the height fluctuations of brittle fracture surfaces using extensive experimental data sampled on widely different materials and geometries. We compare a direct measurement of the distribution to an analysis based on the structure functions. For length scales delta larger than a characteristic scale Lambda that corresponds to a material heterogeneity size, we find that the distribution of the height increments Deltah=h(x+delta)-h(x) is Gaussian and monoaffine, i.e., the scaling of the standard deviation sigma is proportional to delta(zeta) with a unique roughness exponent. Below the scale Lambda we observe a deviation from a Gaussian distribution and a monoaffine behavior. We discuss for the latter, the relevance of a multiaffine analysis and the influences of the discreteness resulting from material microstructures or experimental sampling.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Oslo, P. O. Box 1048 Blindern, N-0316 Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Santucci
authors.forename: Knut Jørgen
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Måløy
authors.forename: Arnaud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Delaplace
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mathiesen
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: Jan Øistein
authors.initials: JØ
authors.lastname: Haavig Bakke
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schmittbuhl
authors.forename: Loïc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vanel
authors.forename: Purusattam
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ray