Statistical Physics of Fracture and Breakdown

Bringing together basic ideas, classical theories, recent experimental and theoretical aspects, this book explains desiccation cracks from simple, easily-comprehensible cases to more complex, applied situations. The ideal team of authors, combining experimental and theoretical backgrounds, and with experience in both physical and earth sciences, discuss how the study of cracks can lead to the design of crack-resistant materials, as well as how cracks can be grown to generate patterned surfaces at the nano- and micro-scales. Important research and recent developments on tailoring desiccation cracks by different methods are covered, supported by straightforward, yet deep theoretical models. Intended for a broad readership spanning physics, materials science, and engineering to the geosciences, the book also includes additional reading especially for students engaged in pattern formation research.

In this book, the authors bring together basic ideas from fracture mechanics and statistical physics, classical theories, simulation and experimental results to make the statistical physics aspects of fracture more accessible. They explain fracture-like phenomena, highlighting the role of disorder and heterogeneity from a statistical physical viewpoint. The role of defects is discussed in brittle and ductile fracture, ductile to brittle transition, fracture dynamics, failure processes with tension as well as compression: experiments, failure of electrical networks, self-organized critical models of earthquake and their extensions to capture the physics of earthquake dynamics. The text also includes a discussion of dynamical transitions in fracture propagation in theory and experiments, as well as an outline of analytical results in fiber bundle model dynamics With its wide scope, in addition to the statistical physics community, the material here is equally accessible to engineers, earth scientists, mechanical engineers, and material scientists. It also serves as a textbook for graduate students and researchers in physics.

Gathering research from physics, mechanical engineering, and statistics in a single resource for the first time, this text presents the background to the model, its theoretical basis, and applications ranging from materials science to earth science. The authors start by explaining why disorder is important for fracture and then go on to introduce the fiber bundle model, backed by various different applications. Appendices present the necessary mathematical, computational and statistical background required. The structure of the book allows the reader to skip some material that is too specialized, making this topic accessible to the engineering, mechanics and materials science communities, in addition to providing further reading for graduate students in statistical physics.