Application of Methods of the Theory of Critical Distances to Estimate the Fracture of Quasi-Brittle Materials with Notches.

The application of various methods of the theory of critical distances for evaluating the cleavage failure of a quasi-brittle plate with a notch in the form of a circular hole that is subjected to uniaxial tension, uniaxial compression, and also to the combined action of tensile and compressive stresses is considered. Critical stress calculations have been performed based on the previously proposed approach, according to which the structural parameter of the nonlocal failure criterion is represented as the sum of two terms. The first of them characterizes the actual structure of the material and is a constant, while the second one reflects the formation of inelastic deformations and depends on the plastic properties of the material, sample geometry, and boundary conditions. The calculation results are compared with known experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]