Hydrodynamic descriptions for surface roughness in fracture front propagation. (14th January 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Basu, Abhik; Chakrabarti, Bikas K.
• Is Part Of: Philosophical transactions. Volume 377:Number 2136(2019)
• Publication Date: 2019-01-14
• Subjects: hydrodynamics -- fracture front propagation -- scaling; Physical sciences -- Periodicals; Engineering -- Periodicals; Mathematics -- Periodicals; 500
• DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2017.0387
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1364-503X

Abstract

Abstract : Fracture is ubiquitous in a crystalline material. Inspired by the observed phenomenological similarities between the spatial profile of a fractured surface and velocities in hydrodynamic turbulence, we set up a hydrodynamic description for the dynamics of fracture surface propagation mode I or opening fracture front. We consider several related continuum hydrodynamic models and use them to extract the similarities between the profile of a fractured surface and velocities in hydrodynamic turbulence. We conclude that a fractured surface should be generically self-similar with an underlying multifractal behaviour. This article is part of the theme issue 'Statistical physics of fracture and earthquakes'.