Abstract
By comparing the evolution of the local and equal load sharing fiber bundle models, we point out the paradoxical result that stresses seem to make the local load sharing model stable when the equal load sharing model is not. We explain this behavior by demonstrating that it is only an apparent stability in the local load sharing model, which originates from a statistical effect due to sample averaging. Even though we use the fiber bundle model to demonstrate the apparent stability, we argue that it is a more general feature of fracture processes.
Highlights
The stability of materials against fracture is essential for our civilization
Even though we use the fiber bundle model as a tool to demonstrate the apparent stability, we argue that the effect is more general
The equal load sharing (ELS) load curve is unstable for all values of k/N because t0 = xc, but there is a region for which the sample averaged local load sharing (LLS) load curve has a positive slope, which seems to indicate local stability
Summary
The stability of materials against fracture is essential for our civilization. We need to be able to trust that buildings, bridges, airplanes, ships, etc. do not collapse. The stress intensity at the crack tips has become so large that the local material weakness is no longer able to compete and catastrophic failure sets in: a macroscopic crack develops. Essential in this summary is the opposite roles played by heterogeneity and stress enhancement: the heterogeneity stabilizes the fracture process whereas the stress enhancement destabilizes it. In this paper we demonstrate that stress enhancement may seemingly have the opposite effect, i.e., it stabilizes the fracture process This is a situation which essentially turns upside down common wisdom within the physics community on how fracture processes proceed. It is this second type of fluctuations that is the cause of the apparent stability
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
