Reinforced concrete is a composite material consisting in a rebar embedded in a concrete matrix. The structural equilibrium depends of the quality of bond between the two materials as well as the intrinsic quality of each of the components. When the structure is submitted to heating, cracking can occur due to the difference in thermal expansion properties between the two materials. In the prese...

A novel method for preparing and testing bending specimens in-situ the TEM has been developed. This method provides high visibility of the crack front and its associated plastic zone. This is significant because energy release rates can now be calculated at many points throughout the test based on crack tip opening displacement (CTOD), crack opening angle (COA), and crack advance. Further refin...

Large deformation finite element analysis has been carried out to investigate the stress-strain fields ahead of a growing crack for compact tension (a/W=0.5) and three-point bend (a/W=0.1 and 0.5) specimens under plane stress condition. The crack growth is controlled by the experimental J-integral resistance curves measured by Sun et al. The results indicate that the distributions of opening st...

In this paper, the fatigue and fracture properties of bovine dentin are evaluated using in vitro experimental analyses. Double cantilever beam (DCB) specimens were prepared from bovine maxillary molars and subjected to zeroto-tension cyclic loads. The fatigue crack growth rate was evaluated as a function of the dentin tubule orientation using the Paris law. Wedge-loaded DCB specimens were also ...

A nominally at penny-shaped crack is subjected to a static loading. A perturbation method is developed for calculating the stress-intensity factors, based on an asymptotic analysis of the governing hypersingular boundary integral equation for the crack-opening displacement. Comparisons with known exact solutions for an inclined at elliptical crack and for a crack in the shape of a spherical cap...

Digital image correlation is an appealing technique for studying crack propagation in brittle materials such as ceramics. A case study is discussed where the crack geometry, and the crack opening displacement are evaluated from image correlation by following two different measurement and identification routes. The displacement uncertainty can reach the nanometer range even though optical pictur...

Traction–separation relations can be used to represent the adhesive interactions of a bimaterial interface during fracture. In this paper, a direct method is proposed to determinemixed-mode traction– separation relations based on a combination of global and local measurements including load-displacement, crack extension, crack tip opening displacement, and fracture resistance curves. Mixed-mode...

Ductile-brittle fracture transition was investigated using compact tension (CT) specimens from -70 o C to 40 o C for a carbon steel. Large deformation finite element analysis has been carried out to simulate the stable crack growth in the compact tension (CT, a/W=0.6), three point-point bend (SE(B), a/W=0.1) and centre-cracked tension (M(T), a/W=0.5) specimens. Experimental crack tip opening di...

A nominally straight crack of finite length is subjected to plane-strain loadings. A perturbation method is developed for calculating the stress-intensity factors, based on an asymptotic analysis of the governing hypersingular boundary integral equation for the crack-opening displacement. Known exact results for a shallow circular-arc crack are recovered, correct to second order in the small ge...

A method for determining the size of a crack induced by hydraulic fracturing is presented. The procedure is based on the measurement of the crack opening displacement and the fracture mechanics approach. The proposed method has been tested by conducting laboratory small-scale hydraulic fracturing tests on a granite. It is shown from the preliminary tests that the method provides a reasonable pr...