Dynamic strain gradient brittle fracture propagation: comparison with experimental evidence

This paper presented a physico-mathematical model for dynamic fracture propagation in brittle materials with a purely continuum mechanics hemi-variational-based strain gradient theory. As for the quasi-static case, the simulation results, obtained by means of finite elements, revealed that strain gradient effects significantly affected the fracture propagation, leading to finite fracture thickness that was independent of the mesh size. It was also observed that nonsymmetric loading rate lead to a deviation from standard mode-I crack propagation that cannot be revealed in the quasi-static case. The model results were compared against experimental data from fracture tests on notched specimens taken from the literature. The comparison showed good agreement between the model predictions and the experimental measurements. The presented model and simulation results can be useful in the design and optimization of structural components subjected to dynamic loading conditions.