Spontaneous growth of interacting cracks in a cruciform pattern

L. M. Keer*, S. Nemat-Nasser, A. Oranratnachai

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

The stability of the growth regime of a system of four equal cracks is studied. The cracks are positioned symmetrically in a cruciform pattern, and they grow toward the center of the symmetry because of nonuniform thermal contraction or incremental injection of incompressible fluid. It is shown that, for either loading condition, a critical stage will be reached at which one pair of coplanar cracks runs together to form a single crack, while the other pair remains stationary. In fact, for the hydraulic loading, the effective fluid pressure acting on the cracks decreases as the cracks grow spontaneously.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)15-29
Number of pages15
JournalEngineering Fracture Mechanics
Volume13
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1980
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Materials Science(all)
  • Mechanics of Materials
  • Mechanical Engineering

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