CRACK INITIATION AND PROPAGATION IN MATERIALS WITH RANDOMLY DISTRIBUTED HOLES

We investigate fracture of both elastic-brittle (epoxy) and ductile (a luminum) sheets, each containing circular holes, and subjected to a un iaxial tension. The holes are distributed at random but with a restric tion of no overlap and a minimum separation distance. In this study, w hich includes both numerical and experimental results, we consider a s ingle configuration of holes but several samples and find that crack p aths in these perforated sheets are not unique. This illustrates the n eed for a stochastic fracture mechanics analysis for this class of pro blems. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.