Abstract
Some recent and important results of the theory of crack extension in elastic bodies are summarized. The theory can adequately account for most of the features of fast brittle fracture observed experimentally. In particular, the fact that the maximum crack speeds observed in practice are considerably lower than the speed of Rayleigh waves may be attributed to a sharp increase in the effective surface energy with increasing crack speed. This increase in surface energy would make branching more likely, but it is recognized that there is still no satisfactory explanation of the phenomenon of crack branching. It is probable that branching of a “main crack” is the result of its interaction with “microcracks” generated ahead of it. The difficulties involved in a theoretical analysis of this interaction are outlined and certain suggestions for further research are given.
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