title: Self-similarity and scaling of thermal shock fractures.
abstract: The problem of crack pattern formation due to thermal shock loading at the surface of half space is solved numerically using the two-dimensional boundary element method. The results of numerical simulations with 100-200 random simultaneously growing and interacting cracks are used to obtain scaling relations for crack length and spacing. The numerical results predict that such a process of pattern formation with quasistatic crack growth is not stable and at some point the excess energy leads to unstable propagation of one of the longest cracks. This single-crack scenario should be understood in a local sense. There could be other unstable cracks far away that together can form a new pattern. The onset of instability has also been determined from numerical results.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Polymer Mechanics, University of Latvia, 23 Aizkraukles Street, Riga LV-1006, Latvia.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tarasovs
authors.affiliation: Mewbourne Department of Petroleum & Geological Engineering, University of Oklahoma, Norma, Oklahoma 73019, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghassemi
mesh_terms: D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013499:Surface Properties; D013696:Temperature