Scaling in fracture mechanics by Bažant law: From finite to linearized elasticity

Abstract

We consider crack propagation in brittle nonlinear elastic materials in the context of quasi-static evolutions of energetic type. Given a sequence of self-similar domains nΩ on which the imposed boundary conditions scale according to Bažant's law, we show, in agreement with several experimental data, that the corresponding sequence of evolutions converges (for n → ∞) to the evolution of a crack in a brittle linear-elastic material.