International Journal of Fracture (INT J FRACTURE )

Publisher: Springer Verlag

Journal description

The International Journal of Fracture is an outlet for original analytical numerical and experimental contributions which provide improved understanding of the mechanisms of micro and macro fracture in all materials and their engineering implications. The Journal is pleased to receive papers from engineers and scientists working in various aspects of fracture. Contributions emphasizing empirical correlations unanalyzed experimental results or routine numerical computations while representing important necessary aspects of certain fatigue strength and fracture analyses will normally be discouraged; occasional review papers in these as well as other areas are welcomed. Innovative and in-depth engineering applications of fracture theory are also encouraged. In addition the Journal welcomes for rapid publication concise Letters in Fracture and Micromechanics which serve the Journal 's Objective. Letters include: Brief presentation of a new idea concept or method; new experimental observations or methods of significance; short notes of quality that do not amount to full length papers; discussion of previously published work in the Journal and Letters Errata.

Impact Factor Rankings

2015 Impact Factor Available summer 2015 1.348 1.25 1.485 1.043 0.804 1.147 1.003 0.685 0.705 0.95 1.008 0.797 0.767 0.531 0.612 0.443 0.398 0.529 0.603 0.548 0.541 0.642

Impact factor over time

Impact factor
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Year

5-year impact 1.31 0.00 0.21 0.01 0.67 International Journal of Fracture website International journal of fracture, Fracture 0376-9429 1771045 Periodical, Internet resource Journal / Magazine / Newspaper, Internet Resource

Publisher details

• Pre-print
• Author can archive a pre-print version
• Post-print
• Author can archive a post-print version
• Conditions
• Author's pre-print on pre-print servers such as arXiv.org
• Author's post-print on author's personal website immediately
• Author's post-print on any open access repository after 12 months after publication
• Publisher's version/PDF cannot be used
• Published source must be acknowledged
• Must link to publisher version
• Set phrase to accompany link to published version (see policy)
• Articles in some journals can be made Open Access on payment of additional charge
• Classification
​ green

Publications in this journal

• Article: Analysis of cracks in 3D piezoelectric media with various electrical boundary conditions
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ABSTRACT: A weakly singular, symmetric Galerkin boundary element method capable of solving problems of isolated cracks in three-dimensional, linear anisotropic piezoelectric, infinite media with various types of crack-face boundary conditions including impermeable, permeable, semi-permeable, and the energetically consistent boundary condition introduced by Landis (Int J Solids Struct 41:6291-6315, 2004) is established. The key governing boundary integral equation used in the formulation possesses several crucial features including its desirable symmetric weak-form, weakly singular nature, and ability to treat general material anisotropy, arbitrary crack configurations and any type of boundary condition on the crack surface. The positive consequence of utilizing the singularity-reduced integral equations in the modeling, is that all involved singular integrals can be interpreted in the sense of Riemann and their validity requires only continuous crack-face data allowing $$\hbox {C}^{0}$$ -interpolation functions to be employed everywhere in the numerical discretization. Special crack-tip elements with appropriate square-root functions are adopted in a local region along the crack front to accurately approximate the relative crack-face displacement and electric potential. With use of these crack-tip elements, the stress and electric intensity factors can be extracted directly in terms of crack-front nodal data. A system of nonlinear algebraic equations resulting from semi-permeable and energetically consistent boundary conditions is solved by standard Newton-Raphson iterative scheme. Various numerical examples of both planar and non-planar cracks under different types of electrical boundary conditions are considered and the proposed technique is found promising and computationally robust. In addition, it was determined that using crack-tip elements along the crack front significantly enhances the computational performance and that the stress and electric intensity factors can be obtained accurately using relatively coarse meshes.
International Journal of Fracture 01/2015;
• Article: Crack propagation with adaptive grid refinement in 2D Peridynamics
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ABSTRACT: The original Peridynamics formulation adopts a uniform grid with constant horizon on the whole discretized domain. As a consequence of that computational resources may not be used efficiently. The present work proposes adaptive refinement algorithms for 2D peridynamic grids. That is an essential component to generate a concurrent multiscale model within a unified approach. Adaptive grid refinement is here applied to the study of dynamic crack propagation in two dimensional brittle materials. Refinement is activated by using a new trigger concept based on the damage state of the material, coupled with the more traditional energy based trigger, already proposed in the literature.We present as well a method, to generate the nodes in the refined zone, which is suitable for an efficient numerical implementation. Moreover strategies for the mitigation of spurious reflections and distortions of elastic waves due to the use of a non-uniform grid are presented. Finally several examples of crack propagation in planar problems are presented, they illustrate the potentialities of the proposed algorithms and the good agreement of the numerical results with experimental data.
International Journal of Fracture 01/2015; Accepted to be appear.
• Article: Simulation-based method for hierarchal material design to improve ductile crack growth resistance of structural component
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ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study is to propose a method to correlate micro-structural characteristics of two-phase steel with structural performance in terms of ductile crack growth resistance (R-curve). For this purpose, a meso-scopic simulation method is proposed to predict two types of ductile properties of two-phase steel that control the R-curve from micro-structural characteristics. The R-curve of three-point bend specimen with fatigue pre-crack predicted by a macro-scopic simulation method that we have proposed, in which these two types of ductile properties obtained by the proposed meso-scopic methods are implemented, is in good agreement with experimental result.
International Journal of Fracture 01/2015;
• Article: Numerical simulation of mode-III fracture incorporating interfacial mechanics
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ABSTRACT: Continuum surface methods, including the Sendova–Walton theory, offer a novel approach to fracture modeling in which boundary mechanics are used to augment the classical linear elastic fracture mechanics model for improved prediction of material behavior near fracture surfaces. These methods would be extremely useful in design simulations, but would require numerical implementation which to date has not been available. This has not been previously addressed due to the higher-order tangential derivatives appearing in the fracture surface boundary conditions which make standard implementation techniques, such as the finite element method, a challenge to implement. We propose a method for this implementation which involves reformulating the fracture boundary conditions to remove these higher-order derivatives in the case of mode-III fracture. We also present the initial results of our finite element implementation, which verify the improved stress and displacement field predictions near fracture surfaces.
International Journal of Fracture 12/2014;
• Article: Mesoscopic modeling of crack arrestor delamination in Al–Li: primary crack shielding and $${T}$$ T -stress effect
International Journal of Fracture 08/2014; 188(2):229-249.
• Article: Tensile characteristics and fracture energy of fiber reinforced and non-reinforced ultra high performance concrete (UHPC)
International Journal of Fracture 08/2014; 188(2):147-157.
• Article: Quasi-static and dynamic fracture behaviour of rock materials: phenomena and mechanisms
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ABSTRACT: An experimental investigation is conducted to study the quasi-static and dynamic fracture behaviour of sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks. The notched semi-circular bending method has been employed to determine fracture parameters over a wide range of loading rates using both a servo-hydraulic machine and a split Hopkinson pressure bar. The time to fracture, crack speed and velocity of the flying fragment are measured by strain gauges, crack propagation gauge and high-speed photography on the macroscopic level. Dynamic crack initiation toughness is determined from the dynamic stress intensity factor at the time to fracture, and dynamic crack growth toughness is derived by the dynamic fracture energy at a specific crack speed. Systematic fractographic studies on fracture surface are carried out to examine the micromechanisms of fracture. This study reveals clearly that: (1) the crack initiation and growth toughness increase with increasing loading rate and crack speed; (2) the kinetic energy of the flying fragments increases with increasing striking speed; (3) the dynamic fracture energy increases rapidly with the increase of crack speed, and a semi-empirical rate-dependent model is proposed; and (4) the characteristics of fracture surface imply that the failure mechanisms depend on loading rate and rock microstructure.
International Journal of Fracture 07/2014; 189(1):1-32.
• Article: Investigation of fatigue crack growth characteristics of NR/BR blend based tyre tread compounds
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ABSTRACT: Tyre tread directly comes in contact with various road surfaces and is prone to damage due to cuts from sharp objects during service. As tyres undergo millions of fatigue cycles, these cuts propagate continuously and lead to catastrophic failure. Therefore fatigue crack growth (FCG) characteristics should be an essential criterion for tread compound selection. The present study investigates FCG behavior of blends comprising of Natural Rubber (NR) and Polybutadiene Rubber (BR) over a wide range of tearing energy. Pure shear specimens with a notch on both edges were tested in a Tear Analyser. Rapid increase in FCG rate after a certain strain level was observed. This transition point appeared in a strain range of 20–35 %, depending on the blend composition. The higher BR containing compounds exhibited better FCG characteristics below the transition point but reversal of ranking was seen above this point. The influence of temperature, R ratio, waveforms and cure system on FCG characteristics was also investigated in NR and 60–40 NR/BR blend compounds. Higher FCG rate was achieved under pulse loading compared to the sine waveform. The relaxation time between pulse cycles played an important role. With an increase in relaxation time, FCG rate decreases significantly. The higher sensitivity towards R ratio was observed in NR compound. The 60–40 NR/BR blend showed higher FCG rate with increase in temperature compared to the NR compound. The NR compound with high Sulfur/Accelerator (S/Ac) ratio showed better FCG characteristics whereas for 60–40 NR/BR blend with low S/Ac ratio achieved superior FCG characteristics.
International Journal of Fracture 07/2014; 188(1).
• Article: Estimation of cracking and damage mechanisms of rock specimens with precut holes by moment tensor analysis of acoustic emission
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ABSTRACT: This work presents an experiment on the acoustic emission (AE) of coarse grain granites with two square-shaped precut holes under uniaxial loading. Studies were carried out on the temporal–spatial evolution behavior of micro-cracks by AE mechanisms with the use of the simplex location method and the moment tensor theory, with further analysis in comparing the numerical simulations using the software RFPA $$^\mathrm{2D}$$ (Rock Failure Process Analysis). The results show that during the loading process, from beginning to rock failure, shear-mode micro-cracks are prominent, constituting more than 60 % of the total events; next most common are tensile-mode micro-cracks a less than 35 % of the total events. Variations of micro-cracks of the three modes during the loading process have the same increase tendency, i.e. fewer were generated in the initial loading stage, with a rapid increase when the stress values are between 40 and 60 % of the peak stress, and a rate dimunition before rock failure. It is observed that the tensile stress concentration is prone to appear at the tops of the two holes in the form of tensile type cracks, while the shear stress concentration usually appears at the bottom in the middle region of the specimen in the form of shear type cracks. The findings of the present work may serve as guidance for the prevention of roof and floor collapse in the stope exploration of mines.
International Journal of Fracture 07/2014; 188(1).
• Article: An empirical model for estimating fracture toughness using the DCDC geometry
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ABSTRACT: The double cleavage drilled compression (DCDC) geometry is useful for creating large cracks in a material in a controlled manner. Several models for estimating fracture toughness from DCDC measurements have been proposed, but each is suitable for a subset of geometries and material properties. In this work, a series of finite element fracture simulations are performed over a range of sample widths, hole sizes, heights, Young’s moduli, Poisson’s ratios, critical stress intensity factors, and boundary conditions. Analyzing the simulation results, fracture toughness is found to be a simple function of sample width, hole size, and an extrapolated stress at zero crack length obtained from a linear fit of the data. Experimental results in the literature are found to agree with this simple relationship.
International Journal of Fracture 07/2014; 188(1):113-118.
• Article: Investigation of rolling contact fatigue cracks in ball bearings
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ABSTRACT: Rolling contact fatigue in a ball bearing is studied using the experimental method. Fatigue pits and spallings on the rolling surface are investigated, and the strain-hardening beneath the contact surface is studied using the microhardness profile. Moreover, surface and subsurface crack layouts and the effect of inclusions on crack nucleation are studied by optical and electron microscopy. Additionally, a simulated model is used to study the influences of the crack inclined angle and the inclusion’s hardness on fatigue damage in bearings.
International Journal of Fracture 07/2014; 188(1):71-78.
• Article: On the role of triaxiality in mode-I resistance curves
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ABSTRACT: Insight into the role of triaxiality in mode-I, plane strain resistance curves of a representative ductile metal has been gained. Growth of a macroscopic crack is simulated as per modified boundary layer formulation for a range of constraint parameter with the fracture process represented by a triaxiality dependent cohesive model. In contrast to the predictions by a fixed cohesive law, the study shows that by including the effect of triaxiality on the work of separation, the stick-slip nature or the non-uniformity in the rate of the crack growth and its manifestations on the plastic wake and fracture surface can be predicted that are closer to trends observed in experimental literature.
International Journal of Fracture 07/2014; 188(1):59-70.
• Article: On the fracture of small samples under higher order strain gradient plasticity
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ABSTRACT: In this work we perform Finite Element simulations within the framework of large deformation elasto-viscoplasticity on a material that is sensitive to the gradients of plastic strain and incorporates a single intrinsic length scale parameter. Both small scale yielding simulations and those on a finite sized sample show that large stress enhancements can occur at the tip of a notch due to gradient effects. The amount of plastic strain and opening stress that can be expected at the notch tip depends on an interplay between the notch radius, specimen dimensions and boundary conditions. It is shown that cleavage can be the favored criterion for failure in even a ductile material when the notch radius is small compared to the intrinsic length scale. Moreover, for large intrinsic length scales, failure may not always initiate at a notch but may be triggered away from it due to the presence of a boundary impermeable to dislocations.
International Journal of Fracture 06/2014; 187(2).
• Article: Nanostructural scaling effect in fracturing homogeneous solids
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ABSTRACT: The scaling effect (power law dependence of number of newly-formed damages on damage size) during fracturing is inherent in heterogeneous materials, such as composites, concrete, rocks, etc., in which multi-site damaging takes place. Fracturing brittle homogeneous materials do not exhibit this phenomenon due to the lack of pre-failure damage accumulation at the microscopic scale level. This work is to determine the role of structural heterogeneity in the process of primary defect nucleation occurring in conventional homogeneous materials. We present highly resolved time series of fractoluminescence (FL) emitted during multiple chemical bond breakage in shock-damaged silica glass and single crystals $\upalpha \hbox {-SiO}_{2}$ and $\upalpha \hbox {-SiC}$ . The statistical analysis of the time series has shown that the energy distributions of FL pulses followed the power law indicative of long-range interactions between primary damage events. This scaling phenomenon is caused by the multiplicity of newly formed damaged sites at the level of structural heterogeneity. At the same time, the microscopic and larger damage formation reflected in the acoustic emission time series did not exhibit the presence of long-range interactions between growing brittle cracks.
International Journal of Fracture 06/2014; 187(2).