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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: GR/L42773/01
Title: STUDIES OF STABILITY FOR PROPAGATING CRACKS
Principal Investigator: Willis, Professor J
Other Investigators:
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department: Applied Maths and Theoretical Physics
Organisation: University of Cambridge
Scheme: Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts: 01 October 1997 Ends: 31 March 2001 Value (£): 127,406
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Continuum Mechanics
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:  
Summary on Grant Application Form
A recent solution for the three-dimensional dynamic perturbation of a propagating crack makes accessible, for the first time, three-dimensional studies of crack stability. Analyses will be performed of the deviation of a crack front from straightness, induced by material heterogeneity in respect of fracture toughness, a small fluctuating component to the loading. Deviations confined to the plane of propagation can be studied under conventional assumptions about fracture toughness, but deviations out-of-plane will require the examination of several candidate fracture criteria. These will include allowance for the interaction of the main crack with microcracks formed near its edge as it propagates, Criteria such as this will require additional asymptotic analysis of the stress field in the vicinity of the perturbed crack edge. An attempt will also be made to extend the analysis to viscoelastic material behaviour.
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Organisation Website: http://www.cam.ac.uk