The propagation of Stoneley waves in a fluid-filled borehole with a vertical fracture is investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The borehole propagation excites fluid motion in the fracture and the resulting fluid flow at the fracture opening perturbs the fluid-solid interface boundary condition at the borehole wall. By developing a boundary condition perturbation technique for the...

Introduction: The fracture mechanisms of bone tissue have been described as a damage accumulation process, which starts with the initiation and propagation of microcracks. Knowledge of crack initiation and propagation at tissue level (tissue fracture toughness) is critical to understand and prevent bone fractures. Tissue fracture toughness could provide valuable information for defining bone qu...

Delamination is an important concern in the context of structural behaviour of laminated composite materials. It is known that delamination can diminish the stiffness and the strength of the material and promote structural failure. Delamination onset and growth is governed by interlaminar fracture toughness of the material. Delamination propagation is frequently dominated by mode II fracture; c...

Crack propagation modeling in quasi-brittle materials such as concrete is essential for improving the reliability and load-bearing capacity assessment. Crack propagation explains many failure characteristics of concrete structures using the fracture mechanics approach. This approach could better explain the softening behavior of concrete structures. A great effort has been made in developing nu...

Instabilities in snow slopes generally involve the progressive fracture along a weak snowpack layer. Recent field observations on fractures in weak layers have shown that this process results vertical displacement due to crushing of the weak layer. Long beam specimens containing a natural weak layer were used to study the propagation of fracture. Multiple black markers were inserted in the snow...

Understanding the mechanism of fracture is essential for material and process design. While the initiation of fracture in brittle solids is generally associated with the preexistence of material imperfections, the mechanism for initiation of fracture in viscoelastic fluids, e.g., polymer melts and solutions, remains an open question. We use high speed imaging to visualize crack propagation in e...

[1] Propagation of water-filled crevasses through glaciers is investigated based on the linear elastic fracture mechanics approach. A crevasse will penetrate to the depth where the stress intensity factor at the crevasse tip equals the fracture toughness of glacier ice. A crevasse subjected to inflow of water will continue to propagate downward with the propagation speed controlled primarily by...

Hydraulic fracture in shale reservoir presents complex network propagation, which has essential difference with traditional plane biwing fracture at forming mechanism. Based on the research results of experiments, field fracturing practice, theory analysis, and numerical simulation, the influence factors and their mechanism of hydraulic fracture extending into network in shale have been systema...