Study of the interaction mechanism of oppositely propagating cracks by dynamic photoelasticity and numerical simulation

Abstract

The interaction mechanism of oppositely propagating cracks is an important basis for the study of rock fracture under dynamic loading. In this article, the stress field superposition and crack tip stress evolution are deeply investigated during the interaction of oppositely propagating cracks by using dynamic photoelastic experiment method and numerical simulation analysis. Obtained results indicate that the cracks interaction process is accompanied by the deflection of the crack, and the deflection of the cracks is mainly affected by the shear stress field at the crack tip. According to the difference of the crack deflection characteristics, the interaction process of the oppositely propagating cracks can be divided into two stages. The Stage I: the non-interlaced stage and Stage II: the interaction stage after the mutual staggered. It includes the period of Stage I that the oppositely propagating cracks are not interlaced with each other; the Stage II is the interaction period after the oppositely propagating cracks are interlaced with each other. The effects of stress intensity factor K_I, stress intensity factor K_II and far-field T stress on crack propagation process should be comprehensively considered when predicting the crack growth trajectory. The interaction of the stress field between cracks is the main factor determining the crack propagation trajectory. In addition, the vertical spacing between cracks also has a significant effect on the fracture behavior of oppositely propagating cracks. When the vertical distance between the two cracks is large, the local stress fields at the crack tip cannot overlap and interfere with each other, and the oppositely propagating cracks will expand independently of each other.

Keywords:

• Dynamic photoelasticity
• interacting crack
• transient stress field
• propagating crack
• numerical simulation

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for their valuable and constructive comments.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (51934001, 52204085), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2021M700386), and Program of Beijing Municipal Education Commission (KM202110009008).