Crackling dynamics in material failure as the signature of a self-organized dynamic phase transition.
We derive here a linear elastic stochastic description for slow crack growth in heterogeneous materials. This approach succeeds in reproducing quantitatively the intermittent crackling dynamics observed recently during the slow propagation of a crack along a weak heterogeneous plane of a transparent Plexiglas block [K. J. Måløy et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 045501 (2006)10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.045501]. In this description, the quasistatic failure of heterogeneous media appears as a self-organized critical phase transition. As such, it exhibits universal and to some extent predictable scaling laws, analogous to that of other systems such as, for example, magnetization noise in ferromagnets.
Bonamy
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IRAMIS, SPCSI, Group Complex Systems and Fracture, CEA, F-91191 Gif sur Yvette, France. daniel.bonamy@cea.fr
Santucci
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Ponson
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