Fracture incubation time and scale invariance of dynamic crack propagation in brittle solids

Abstract

In the paper, we theoretically studied the dynamics of mode II crack propagation in brittle solids with taking into account the finite duration of incubation of local fracture. The study was carried out by computer simulation using the movable cellular automaton method. We analyzed the influence of the magnitude of fracture incubation time on the fulfillment of the scale-invariance condition of dynamic crack propagation. We proposed a definition of this condition in terms of fracture incubation time and introduced a new physically based criterion to classify structural levels of fracture in brittle materials.