A mix-mode cohesive fracture model considering tension, compression and shear material behaviour is presented, which has wide applications to geotechnical problems. The model considers both elastic and inelastic displacements. Inelastic displacement comprises fracture and plastic displacements. The norm of inelastic displacement is used to control the fracture behaviour. Meantime, a failure fun...

In this paper, we present a novel parallel implementation of extrinsic initially rigid cohesive elements in an explicit finite element solver designed for the simulation of dynamic fracture events. The implementation is based on activating instead of inserting the cohesive elements and uses ParFUM, a parallel framework specifically developed for simulations involving unstructured meshes. Aspect...

While toughening and damage might seem to be two contradictory concepts for the mechanics of crack growth, they are actually the same phenomena perceived from two different vantage points. Similarly, the concepts of extrinsic and intrinsic toughening, defined in terms of whether a toughening mechanism occurs behind or ahead of a crack, depend on the definition of a crack tip that, in the absenc...

The nature and danger of quicksand has been disputed since a long time. Despite widespread belief that humans can be swallowed or even sucked in, engineers of soil mechanics have typically asserted that, since the density of sludge is larger than that of water, a person cannot fully submerge. We investigated a specific type of quicksand at the shore of drying lagoons. Cyanobacteria form an impe...

Self-assembled monolayers (SAM) are aggregates of small molecular chains that have the property to form highly ordered assemblies. The presence of terminal groups on the constituent chains makes them excellent contenders of molecular level tailoring. Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations and experimental observations of spallation have shown that cohesive strength of SAM-enriched molecular interf...

Gravitational forces acting on in situ bank material act in concert with hydraulic forces at the bank toe to determine rates of bank erosion. The interaction of these forces control streambank mechanics. Hydraulic forces exerted by flowing water on in situ bank-toe material and failed cohesive material at the bank toe are often sufficient to entrain materials at relatively frequent flows and to...