Spandan Maiti1, Philippe H. Geubelle1
CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.5, No.2, pp. 91-102, 2004, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2004.005.091
Abstract The dynamic propagation and branching of a mode I crack in polycrystalline brittle materials like ceramics are investigated numerically using a 2-D explicit grain-based cohesive/volumetric finite element scheme. The granular microstructure of the ceramics is taken into account and the crack is restricted to propagate along the grain boundaries. Special emphasis is placed on studying the effect of grain size and cohesive parameters on the crack branching instability. More >