Syllabus:

• phenomenology and mechanisms of fracture
• linear-elastic and elastic-plastic fracture mechanics
• crack tip fields
• energy balance at fracture
• fracture criteria
• dynamic fracture mechanics
• micromechanics of heterogeneous solids
• damage mechanics

Aims: Fundamental concepts and methods of fracture mechanics and damage mechanics are presented which are used in the analysis of structures containing cracks as well as in the modelling of complex material behaviour. Besides the continuum mechanical description, material specific aspects are also discussed.

Exam: oral, 45 min.

Audience: students (6th semester and beyond) from civil and mechanical engineering, PhD students

Prerequisite: Foundations of continuum mechanics, advanced engineering mathematics

Literature:

• Anderson, T.L.: Fracture Mechanics - Fundamentals and Application. CRC Press, 1995
• Gdoutos, E.E.: Fracture Mechanics - an Introduction. Kluwer Acad. Publ., 1993
• Gross, D., Seelig, Th.: Fracture Mechanics – with an Introduction to Micromechanics. Springer, 2007
• Knott, J.F.: Fundamentals of Fracture Mechanics. Butterworth, 1973
• Krajcinovic, D.: Damage Mechanics. Elsevier, 1996
• Mura, T.: Micromechanics of Defects in Solids. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1982
• Nemat-Nasser, S., Hori, M.: Micromechanics - Overall Properties of Heterogeneous Materials. North-Holland, 1993
• Zehnder, A.T.: Fracture Mechanics. Springer, 2012