• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.927-935
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• 2018

The mechanical behavior of the brittle material samples containing the internal and edge cracks are studied under direct shear tests. It is tried to investigate the effects of stress interactions and stress intensity factors at the tips of the pre-existing cracks on the failure mechanism of the bridge areas within these cracks. The direct shear tests are carried out on more than 30 various modeled samples each containing the internal cracks (S models) and edge cracks (E models). The visual inspection and a low power microscope are used to monitor the failure mechanisms of the tested samples. The cracks initiation, propagation and coalescences are being visualized in each test and the detected failure surfaces are used to study and measure the characteristics of each surface. These investigations show that as the ratio of the crack area to the total shear surface increases the shear failure mode changes to that of the tensile. When the bridge areas are fixed, the bridge areas in between the edge cracks have less strength than those of internal cracks. However, the results of this study show that for the case of internal cracks as the bridge area is increased, the strength of the material within the bridge area is decreased. It has been shown that the failure mechanism and fracture pattern of the samples depend on the bridge areas because as the bridge area decreases the interactions between the crack tip stress fields increases.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.195-202
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• 2018

Many laboratory experiments on crack propagation under uniaxial loading and biaxial loading have been conducted in the past using transparent materials such as resin, polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), etc. However, propagation behaviors of three-dimensional (3D) cracks in rock or rock-like materials under tri-axial loading are often considerably different. In this study, a series of true tri-axial loading tests on the rock-like material with two semi-ellipse pre-existing cracks were performed in laboratory to investigate the acoustic emission (AE) characteristics and propagation characteristics of 3D crack groups influenced by intermediate principal stress. Compared with previous experiments under uniaxial loading and biaxial loading, the tests under true tri-axial loading showed that shear cracks, anti-wing cracks and secondary cracks were the main failure mechanisms, and the initiation and propagation of tensile cracks were limited. Shear cracks propagated in the direction parallel to pre-existing crack plane. With the increase of intermediate principal stress, the critical stress of crack initiation increased gradually, and secondary shear cracks may no longer coalesce in the rock bridge. Crack aperture decreased with the increase of intermediate principal stress, and the failure is dominated by shear fracturing. There are two stages of fracture development: stable propagation stage and unstable failure stage. The AE events occurred in a zone parallel to pre-existing crack plane, and the AE zone increased gradually with the increase of intermediate principal stress, eventually forming obvious shear rupture planes. This shows that shear cracks initiated and propagated in the pre-existing crack direction, forming a shear rupture plane inside the specimens. The paths of fracturing inside the specimens were observed using the Computerized Tomography (CT) scanning and reconstruction.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.125-132
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• 2018

In this study, a direct tensile test was planned to identify the tensile performance of UHPC, and the irregularity of cracks, which is a problem of the direct tensile test, was complemented through the introduction of notches at the center of a specimen. In this regard, a number of specimens divided by batch to reduce the deviation of direct tensile test values were fabricated to present reference data with respect to highly reliable direct tensile strength values. In addition, the mechanical properties and reliability of the specimens were examined under the curing conditions of the specified design strength of 120MPa for the steel fiber reinforced concrete with 1.5% fiber volume fraction, which is most suitable for the field application. As a result, the deviation of averages by batch between compressive strength and direct tensile strength did not show a large difference, and all cracks occurred within 20mm in the direct tensile test. At the 95% confidence interval of the direct tensile strength, the range was considerably small in the mean and the standard deviation, and there was no significant difference depending on the curing conditions. The results confirmed that a stable direct tensile test was performed, and highly reliable results were obtained through the fabrication of specimens by batch and test progress.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.86-93
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• 2009

The crack formation and the resistance of ITO film on PET substrate with a thickness of 20 nm were investigated as a function of strain. The onset strain for the increase of resistance increased with increasing strain rate, suggesting the crack initiation is dependent on the strain rate. Electrical resistance increased at the strain of 1.6% at the strain rates below $10^{-4}/sec$ while it increased at ${\sim}2%$ at the strain rates above $10^{-3}/sec$. The critical strain at which the cracks were formed is close to the proportional limit. Upon loading, the initial cracks perpendicular to the tensile axis were observed and propagated the whole sample width with increasing strain. The spacing between horizontal cracks is thought to be determined by the fracture strength and the interfacial strength between ITO and PET. The crack density increased with increasing strain. However, the effect of the strain rate on the crack density was less pronounced in ITO/PET with 20 nm ITO thickness than ITO/PET with 125 nm ITO thickness, the strength of ITO film is thought to increase as the thickness on ITO film decreases. The absence of cracks on ITO film at a strain as close as 1.5% can be attributed to the compressive residual stress of ITO film which was developed during cooling after the coating process. The higher critical strain for the onset of the resistance increase and the crack initiation of ITO/PET with a thinner ITO film (20 nm) can be linked with the higher strength of the thinner ITO film.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.49-58
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• 2018

Open-mode cracks could be commonly observed in layered rocks. A concept model is firstly used to explore the mechanism of the vertical cracks (VCs) in the top layer. Then the crack behaviour of the two-layer model is simulated based on a cohesive zone model (CZM) for layer interfaces and a plastic-damage model for rocks. The model indicates that the tensile stress normal to the VCs changes to compression if the crack spacing to layer thickness ratio is lower than a threshold. The results indicate that there is a threshold for interfacial shear strength that controls the crack patterns of the layered system. If the shear strength is lower than the threshold, the top layer is meshed by the VCs and interfacial cracks (ICs). When the shear strength is higher than the threshold, the top layer is meshed by the VCs and parallel cracks (PCs). If the shear strength is comparative to the threshold, a combining pattern of VCs, PCs and ICs for the top layer can be formed. The evolutions of stress distribution in the crack-bound block indicate that the ICs and PCs can reduce the load transferred for the substrate layer, and thus leads to a crack saturation state.

• Advanced Composite Materials
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.45-61
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• 2007

This paper describes a damage accumulation mechanism in cross-ply CFRP laminates $[0_2/90_2]_{2S}$ subjected to out-of-plane loading. Drop-weight impact and static indentation tests were carried out, and induced damage was observed by ultrasonic C-scan and an optical microscope. Both tests gave essentially the same results for damage modes, sizes, and load-deformation history. First, a crack occurred in the bottom $0^{\circ}$ layer accompanying some delamination along the crack caused by bending stress. Then, transverse cracks occurred in the middle $90^{\circ}$ layer with decreasing contact force between the specimen and the indenter. Measured local strains near the impact point showed that the stress state changed from a bending dominant state to an in-plane tensile dominant state. A cohesive interface element was used to simulate the propagation of multiple delaminations and transverse cracks under static indentation. Two types of analytical models are considered, one with multiple delaminations and the other with both multiple delaminations and transverse cracks. The damage obtained for the model with only multiple delaminations was quite different from that obtained from the experiment. However, the results obtained from the model with both delaminations and transverse cracks well explain the characteristics of the damage obtained in the experiment. The existence of the transverse cracks is essential to form the characteristic impact damage.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.354-362
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• 2003

The use of a petaloid design for the bottom of carbonated poly(ethylene terephthalate)(PET) bottles is widely spread. This study investigated the causes of bottom cracks. The tensile yield stress variations of PET according to the crystallinity and stretch ratio were examined, then the stretch ratio and strength in the bottom area of a blown bottle were analyzed. A crack test was also performed to observe the cracking phenomena. The distribution of the effective stress and maximum principal stress were both examined using computer simulation to seek the influence of the bottom design on crack. It was concluded that the bottom cracks occurred because of inadequate material strength due to the insufficient stretching of PET, plus the coarse design of a petaloid bottom. The stretch ratio at the bottom during bottle blowing should be higher than the strain hardening point of PET to produce enhanced mechanical strength. The cracks in the bottom of the PET bottles occurred through crazing below the yield stress. The maximum principal stress was higher in the valleys of the petaloid bottom than in the rest bottom area, and the maximum principal stress had a strong effect on the cracks.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.41-56
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• 2012

This study is focused on evaluation of the tensile properties of concrete exposed to acid rain environment. Acid rain environment was simulated by the mixture of sulfate and nitric acid in the laboratory. The dumbell-shaped concrete specimens were submerged in pure water and acid solution for accelerated conditioning. Weighing, tensile test, CT, SEM/EDS test and microanalysis were performed on the specimens. Tensile characteristics of the damaged concrete are obtained quantitatively. Evolution characteristics of the voids, micro cracks, chemical compounds, elemental distribution and contents in the concrete are examined. The deterioration mechanisms of concrete exposed to acid rain are well elucidated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 1995.03a
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• pp.252-263
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• 1995

It is visualized that dislocations move straightly in polycrystalline structure and the trans-grain dislocation moving occur from yield point to ultimate tensile stress. Some fracturemodes in uniaxial tensile test are ilustrated in order to explain that after the ultimate point the grains deforms by twins and the rotations of grains make cracks at the grain-boundaries by the incompatibility . The luders banks. which propagates along the axis of the specimen, are twin bands whcih are formed by rearrangement of the atoms within the structure of three-dimensional crystallizing $\pi$-bondings. The fatigue limit can be found through the atom's rolling back motion during elastic deformation inthe uniaxial tensile test by the change of the gradient.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.7
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• pp.1131-1137
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• 2018

The effect of a serrated grain boundary on stress corrosion cracking (SCC) of Alloy 600 was investigated in terms of improvement of SCC resistance. Serrated grain boundaries and straight grain boundaries were obtained by controlled heat treatment. SCC cracks preferentially initiated and grew at grain boundaries normal to the tensile loading axis. Resolved tensile stress normal to the grain boundary was lower in serrated grain boundaries compared to straight grain boundaries. The specimen with serrated grain boundaries showed higher SCC resistance than that with straight grain boundaries due to a lower resolved tensile stress normal to the grain boundary.