title: Breaking-rate minimum predicts the collapse point of overloaded materials.
abstract: As a model of composite materials, we choose a bundle of fibers with stochastically distributed breaking thresholds for the individual fibers. The fibers are assumed to share the load equally, and to obey Hookean elasticity right up to the breaking point. We study the evolution of the fiber breaking rate at a constant load in excess of the critical load. The analysis shows that the breaking rate reaches a minimum when the system is half-way from its complete collapse.
authors.affiliation: SINTEF Petroleum Research, NO-7465 Trondheim, Norway. srutarshi.pradhan@sintef.no
authors.forename: Srutarshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pradhan
authors.forename: Per C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Hemmer