title: Quantitative prediction of effective toughness at random heterogeneous interfaces.
abstract: The propagation of an adhesive crack through an anisotropic heterogeneous interface is considered. Tuning the local toughness distribution function and spatial correlation is numerically shown to induce a transition between weak to strong pinning conditions. While the macroscopic effective toughness is given by the mean local toughness in the case of weak pinning, a systematic toughness enhancement is observed for strong pinning (the critical point of the depinning transition). A self-consistent approximation is shown to account very accurately for this evolution, without any free parameter.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire PMMH, ESPCI/CNRS-UMR 7636/Université Paris 6 UPMC/Université Paris 7 Diderot 10 rue Vauquelin, 75231 Paris cedex 05, France.
authors.forename: Sylvain
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Patinet
authors.forename: Damien
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vandembroucq
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Roux