Slow crack propagation through a disordered medium: Critical transition and dissipation

¹ CNR - Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi - via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Roma, Italy, EU
² CNR - Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi, Dipartimento di Fisica, Sapienza Università, P.le A. Moro 5, 00189 Roma, Italy, EU
³ Dipartimento di Fisica, Sapienza Università - P.le A. Moro 5, 00189 Roma, Italy, EU

Received: 24 October 2012
Accepted: 9 December 2012

Abstract

We show that the intermittent and self-similar fluctuations displayed by a slow crack during the propagation in a heterogeneous medium can be quantitatively described by an extension of a classical statistical model for fracture. The model yields the correct dynamical and morphological scaling, and allows to demonstrate that the scale invariance originates from the presence of a non-equilibrium, reversible, critical transition which, in the presence of dissipation, gives rise to self-organized critical behaviour.