Peridynamic modeling of the crack velocity dependence via an incubation time fracture criterion

This study investigates one of the central problems of dynamic fracture mechanics, namely the dependence of the instantaneous stress intensity factor (SIF) on the crack propagation velocity. For this purpose, the well-known experiments by Ravi-Chandar and Knauss on brittle, amorphous Homalite-100 polymer plates are modeled using a peridynamic approach. The numerical model integrates the previously proposed remote stress fracture criterion into an incubation time fracture criterion (ITFC). Results of numerical modeling indicate that ITFC model reproduces the trend between stress intensity factor and crack propagation velocity observed in the experiments conducted by Ravi-Chandar and Knauss. Moreover, for higher crack propagation velocities, micro-branching is obtained numerically. These results provide new insights into the nature of the crack-velocity dependence of the Mode-I SIF.