A model of quasibrittle fracture caused by pulsed loading

We study the stress-strain state formed in a plate containing a stationary crack of finite length subjected to pulsed loading, develop a model of quasibrittle fracture caused by loads of this type, and deduce analytic expressions for the stress-strain state near the tip of the stationary crack in the plate. The proposed model admits rigorous physical justification and enables one to describe the development of brittle and quasibrittle fracture processes in materials with cracklike defects under dynamic and static loads within the framework of the same approach. The results of numerical simulation are in good qualitative agreement with the experimentally established regularities of the behavior of the critical parameters of fracture processes. © 2002 Plenum Publishing Corporation.