Simulations of instability in dynamic fracture by the cracking particles method

Timon Rabczuk, Jeong Hoon Song, Ted Belytschko

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    145 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Crack instabilities and the phenomenon of crack speed saturation in a brittle material (PMMA) are studied with a meshfree cracking particle method. We reproduce the experimental observation that the computed terminal crack speeds attained in PMMA specimens are substantially lower than the Rayleigh wave speed; the computed crack speeds agree quite well with the reported experimental results. We also replicate repetitive microcrack branching along with the increased rate of energy dissipation after attainment of a critical crack speed, even in the absence of microstructural defects. We show that the presence of microdefects changes the response only a little. The computations reproduce many of the salient features of experimental observations.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)730-741
    Number of pages12
    JournalEngineering Fracture Mechanics
    Volume76
    Issue number6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2009 Apr

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    The support of the Office of Naval Research under Grants N00014-06-1-0380 and N00014-06-1-0505 is gratefully acknowledged.

    Keywords

    • Dynamic instability
    • Meshfree cracking particle method
    • Microcrack branching
    • Microvoids

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • General Materials Science
    • Mechanics of Materials
    • Mechanical Engineering

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Simulations of instability in dynamic fracture by the cracking particles method'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this