Fractal crushing of ice and brittle solids
A significant ‘scale effect’ is observed when sea ice forces on structures are measured at field scale: the force per unit contact area is not independent of area, but decreases with increasing area. Fragments of broken materials are found to have a fractal size distribution, with a fractal dimensio...
| Published in: | Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Mathematical and Physical Sciences |
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| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
The Royal Society
1991
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1991.0060 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspa.1991.0060 |
| Summary: | A significant ‘scale effect’ is observed when sea ice forces on structures are measured at field scale: the force per unit contact area is not independent of area, but decreases with increasing area. Fragments of broken materials are found to have a fractal size distribution, with a fractal dimension close to 2.5 over a remarkably wide range of fragment size. The research described in this paper brings these two observations together, and shows that they can be explained by a simple model of crushing, which incorporates the relation between fragment size and splitting force predicted by linear elastic fracture mechanics. The model indicates a special role for the fractal dimension of 2.5, and predicts a relation between force and area, consistent with field observations. |
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