This paper assumes that the fracture energy required to separate a unit crack area along the crack growth path is influenced by the width of the fracture process zone (FPZ) at that location. This as- sumption is based on considerations…
This paper assumes that the fracture energy required to separate a unit crack area along the crack growth path is influenced by the width of the fracture process zone (FPZ) at that location. This as- sumption is based on considerations of the following fracture mechanisms: friction between the uneven upper and lower crack surfaces during crack opening and crack growth, micro-crack interactions within the FPZ. Instead of using a single constant fracture energy GF for the entire projected fracture area, our present model assumes a bi-linear fracture energy distribution. GF is constant if FPZ is fully developed and is not influenced by the specimen boundary, and GF is linearly decreased if FPZ cannot be fully developed when approaching to the specimen boundary. That is the change in FPZ leads to the boundary or size effect on GF. The present boundary effect model is compared with the other size effect models and experimental results.