The assessment of crack initiation and/or propagation has been the subject of many past discussions on fracture mechanics. Depending on how the chosen failure criterion is combined with the solution of a particular theory of continuum mechanics, the outcome could vary over a wide range. Mod elling of the material damage process could be elusive if the scale level of observation is left undefined. The specification of physical dimension alone is not sufficient because time and temperature also play an intimate role. It is only when the latter two variables are fixed that failure predictions...

Recent Developments in Fracture Mechanics Theory and Methods of Solving Crack Problems

Composites offer great promise as light weight and strong materials for high performance structures. One of the major advantages of these materials as compared with metals is the basic way in which heterogeneity resist crack extension. In a fiber/matrix composite system, the fibers tend to cause cracks to form at closer spacing and delay the formation of a large crack. The enhancement of local failure such as fiber breaking, matrix cracking and interface debonding further reduces the energy level which might have otherwise reached the point of catastrophic failure. Even though substantial...

Proceedings of an International Symposium on Absorbed Specific Energy and Strain Energy Density Criterion, Budapest, September 1980. In memory of the late Professor Laszlo Gillemot

Proceedings of First USA-Greece Symposium on Mixed Mode Crack Propagation, Athens, Greece, 18-22 August, 1980

The Second USA-USSR Symposium on Fna e 06 Compo e Mat ah took place at Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, during 9-12 March, 1981. This bilateral program between the U. S. and Soviet Union was organized by Professor George C. Sih of the Institute of Fracture and Solid Mechanics at Lehigh Uni- versity and Dr. Vitauts P. Tamuzs of the Institute of Polymer Mechanics of the Academy of Sciences of the Latvian SSR in Riga. The First Symposium was held in 1978 at Jurmala near the coast of Riga Bay. The primary reasons for initiating this series of Symposia were to dissemi- nate present...

This International Conference on Analytical and Experimental Fracture Me chanics was organized jointly by the Centro Sperimentale Metallurgico, S. p. A., Lehigh University and Italsider S. p. A. It took place at the Hotel Midas Palace in Rome, Italy, during 23-27 June, 1980. There were more than 150 attendees from 19 different countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, People's Re public of China, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Federal Republic of Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, USA and USSR. Dr. G. M. Costa from Finsider officially...