This work examines problems, particularly in mining and civil engineering, related to the destruction of heterogenous materials. It details the physical mechanisms of destruction, methods of damage and fracture modelling, and the application of models to the improvement of drilling efficiency.

The principal objective of this book is to relate the random distributions of defects and material strength on the microscopic scale with the deformation and residual strength of materials on the macroscopic scale. To reach this goal the authors considered experimental, analytical and computational models on atomic, microscopic and macroscopic scales.

- self-contained and well illustrated - complete and comprehensive derivation of mechanical/mathematical results with enphasis on issues of practical importance - combines classical subjects of fracture mechanics with modern topics such as microheterogeneous materials, piezoelectric materials, thin films, damage - mechanically and mathematically clear and complete derivations of results

This book pursues optimal design from the perspective of mechanical properties and resistance to failure caused by cracks and fatigue. The book abandons the scale separation hypothesis and takes up phase-field modeling, which is at the cutting edge of research and is of high industrial and practical relevance. Part 1 starts by testing the limits of the homogenization-based approach when the size of the representative volume element is non-negligible compared to the structure. The book then introduces a non-local homogenization scheme to take into account the strain gradient effects. Using a phase field method, Part 2 offers three significant contributions concerning optimal placement of the inclusion phases. Respectively, these contributions take into account fractures in quasi-brittle materials, interface cracks and periodic composites. The topology optimization proposed has significantly increased the fracture resistance of the composites studied.

Fracture, Fatigue, Failure and Damage Evolution, Volume 8 of the Proceedings of the 2016 SEM Annual Conference & Exposition on Experimental and Applied Mechanics, the eighth volume of ten from the Conference, brings together contributions to this important area of research and engineering. The collection presents early findings and case studies on a wide range of areas, including: In-situ Techniques for Fracture & Fatigue General Topics in Fracture & Fatigue Fracture & Fatigue of Composites Damage, Fracture, Fatigue & Durability Interfacial Effects in Fracture & Fatigue Damage Detection in Fracture & Fatigue

This book deals with the mechanics and physics of fractures at various scales. Based on advanced continuum mechanics of heterogeneous media, it develops a rigorous mathematical framework for single macrocrack problems as well as for the effective properties of microcracked materials. In both cases, two geometrical models of cracks are examined and discussed: the idealized representation of the crack as two parallel faces (the Griffith crack model), and the representation of a crack as a flat elliptic or ellipsoidal cavity (the Eshelby inhomogeneity problem). The book is composed of two parts: The first part deals with solutions to 2D and 3D problems involving a single crack in linear elasticity. Elementary solutions of cracks problems in the different modes are fully worked. Various mathematical techniques are presented, including Neuber-Papkovitch displacement potentials, complex analysis with conformal mapping and Eshelby-based solutions. The second part is devoted to continuum micromechanics approaches of microcracked materials in relation to methods and results presented in the first part. Various estimates and bounds of the effective elastic properties are presented. They are considered for the formulation and application of continuum micromechanics-based damage models.

Presenting original results from both theoretical and numerical viewpoints, this text offers a detailed discussion of the variational approach to brittle fracture. This approach views crack growth as the result of a competition between bulk and surface energy, treating crack evolution from its initiation all the way to the failure of a sample. The authors model crack initiation, crack path, and crack extension for arbitrary geometries and loads.

An introduction to the mechanics and mathematics of fracture for undergraduates in a wide range of fields, practical engineers, and other inquisitive readers with a background in at least the fundamentals of mechanics and mathematics. Describes the historical development of the fracture-mechanical concepts used today, and how these are applied in industry. Translated from the Russian; about half of the brief bibliography are works in Russian. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The Second USA-USSR Symposium on Fna~e 06 Compo~~e Mat~a£h took place at Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, during 9-12 March, 1981. This bilateral program between the U. S. and Soviet Union was organized by Professor George C. Sih of the Institute of Fracture and Solid Mechanics at Lehigh Uni versity and Dr. Vitauts P. Tamuzs of the Institute of Polymer Mechanics of the Academy of Sciences of the Latvian SSR in Riga. The First Symposium was held in 1978 at Jurmala near the coast of Riga Bay. The primary reasons for initiating this series of Symposia were to dissemi nate present knowledge, to promote interchange of ideas, and to stimulate addi tional studies on the development of composite materials between the U. S. and USSR. Both countries have a vested interest in developing the capability to assess and utilize the attractive mechanical properties of composites so that they can be tailor-made to meet specific design requirements. Despite the in creasing number of published papers and articles, there is no communication more effective than on a person-to-person basis. It is with this objective in mind that a small group of engineers and scientists from the U. S. and USSR have planned to meet every two years to report recent progress on composite material research. The size of this group is approximately sixty (60) participants. The presentation involves about forty (40) technical papers which are published in volume.

The strength of metallic materials determines the usability and reliability of all the machines, tools and equipment around us. Yet, the question about which mechanisms control the strength and damage resistance of materials and how they can be optimised remains largely unanswered. How do real, heterogeneous ma- rials deform and fail? Why can a small modification of the microstructure increase the strength and damage resistance of materials manifold? How can the strength of heterogeneous materials be predicted? The purpose of this book is to present different experimental and computational analysis methods of micromechanics of damage and strength of materials and to demonstrate their applications to various micromechanical problems. This book summarizes at a glance some of the publications of the Computational Mechanics Group at the IMWF/MPA Stuttgart, dealing with atomistic, micro- and meso- chanical modelling and experimental analysis of strength and damage of metallic materials. In chapter 1, the micromechanisms of damage and fracture in different groups of materials are investigated experimentally, using direct observations and inverse analysis. The interaction of microstructural elements with the evolving damage is studied in these experiments. Chapter 2 presents different approaches to the - cromechanical simulation of composite materials: embedded unit cells, multiphase finite elements and multiparticle unit cells. Examples of the application of these models to the analysis of deformation and damage in different materials are given. Chapter 3 deals with the methods of numerical modelling of damage evolution and crack growth in heterogeneous materials.