ISSN: 0884-6804
Page Count: 4

Crack Speed Calculations for Unidirectional Laminae
Chiang, YJ
Assistant professor, University of Detroit Mercy, MI

Abstract

Based on the physical hypotheses that (a) the random properties of fracture in composite materials can be described by a nominal crack size and (b) the surplus of applied work to create new crack surfaces is converted into kinetic energy, an equation for crack speeds in orthotropic composites subjected to a uniform constant normal stress is derived. When the crack length in a composite increases and gets longer than the critical crack length, the crack speed increases asymptotically and finally reaches a limiting speed.

Keywords:
composites, crack speeds, critical crack lengths, kinetic energy, wave-propagation speeds

Paper ID: CTR10225J
DOI: 10.1520/CTR10225J
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