| Theodore von Kármán Professor of Aeronautics and Mechanical Engineering |
Research Interests Dynamic Delamination of Coherent and Frictional Bimaterial Interfaces Collaborator: Student: G. Lykotrafitis, Caltech
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The field of dynamic crack initiation and growth in coherent and frictional bimaterial interfaces is virtually unexplored from both the experimental and analytical points of view. In recent years we have launched an extensive investigation of the mechanics of dynamic crack growth in bimaterials and have conducted a series of dynamic experiments in Homalite-steel, Homalite-glass, and Homalite-Al3O bimaterial fracture specimens. High speed optical and thermographic techniques are used in this study. Experiments concentrate on the dependence of the bimaterial toughness on near tip mixity and crack tip velocity. Analytical models of dynamic subsonic crack growth in bimaterials have been used to interpret the experiments and to investigate the parameters appropriate for the formulation of a unified, dynamic fracture criterion. For frictionally healed bimaterials, we have used particle velocimetry to investigate the conditions leading to the formation of self-healing rupture pulses.
last
update:
05/31/2016