Crack front instabilities under mixed mode loading in three dimensions

Abstract

The evolution of a crack front under mixed mode loading (I+III) is studied using a phase field model in 3 dimensions with no stress boundary conditions. As previously observed experimentally in gels, there is a relaxation toward a geometry where $K_{III}=0$ without any front fragmentation even for high values of the initial mode mixity $K_{III}/K_I$. The effects of the initial condition is studied and it is shown that irregularities in the initial slit can lead to front fragmentation for smaller values of the ratio $K_{III}/K_I$ as is observed in experiments.

6 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in EuroPhysics Letters

References in corpus (4)

• Dynamic instabilities of fracture under biaxial strain using a phase field model
• Study of the branching instability using a phase field model of inplane crack propagation
• Crack propagation through phase separated glasses: effect of the characteristic size of disorder
• Study of three-dimensional crack fronts under plane stress using a phase field model