The Stress-Strain State and Potential Crack Trajectories in 2D Elastic Brittle Materials from Steady-State Flow Experiments

A steady-state flow method is used to examine micromechanisms of brittle failure in 2D elastic cracked media submitted to uniaxial compressive stress. The steady-state flow experiments were conducted with an incompressible Newtonian fluid in a Hele Shaw cell. Thin linear rubber inclusions were inserted in the cell to model preexisting cracks and...

Stress fluctuation mechanism of mesocrack growth, dilatancy and failure of heterogeneous materials in uniaxial compression

The fracture process in heterogeneous materials (e.g., concrete, rock, aggregate composites) under uniaxial compression proceeds in three stages differing in the scale levels involved. Stage 1 is the accumulation of wing cracks formed under compression from pre-existing defects. The wing cracks themselves cannot grow to an extent sufficient to...