Analysis of fast fracture and crack arrest by finite differences

Abstract

A finite difference scheme, recently proposed and mainly concerned with the DCB static solution under plane strain conditions, is here further extended to provide more information on fast crack propagation and arrest. The analysis is shown to predict crack lengths at arrest and crack velocities as well as dynamic stress intensity factors which are very close to those reported in the literature. This good agreement with experimental findings was obtained for steel and epoxy resin which, while in different classes of material, nevertheless as far as the analysis is concerned are distinguished only by their Poisson's ratios.