Evidence of chaotic behavior in computer simulations of fracture processes

Abstract

Although the science of fracture mechanics has had considerable success in using continuum mechanics to predict fracture stress distributions and the approximate fracture path in groups of identical samples, a great amount of uncertainty is always present in the behavior of a single sample. It has been generally accepted that this lack of predictability is the result of an incomplete knowledge of the state of flaws on a sample surface coupled with limitations in fracture mechanics models. In the simulation of fracture in amorphous silica, the stress-strain behavior during fracture and the structure of the fracture paths are ultimately dependent on individual atomic motions and all aspects of the structure. This is a hallmark of chaotic behavior, indicating that the characteristics of fracture in materials can be predicted only in general terms, regardless of the precision used to define the initial configurations.