TY  - JOUR
VL  - 45
IS  - 1
JF  - EPL (Europhysics Letters)
Y1  - 1999/11//
SP  - 13
PB  - IOPscience
A1  - Gabrielli, Andrea
A1  - Cafiero, Raffaele
A1  - Caldarelli, Guido
EP  - 19
ID  - eprints1169
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1209/epl/i1999-00124-7
KW  - PACS: 61.43.Hv Fractals; macroscopic aggregates (including diffusion-limited aggregates); 62.20.Mk Fatigue
KW  -  brittleness
KW  -  fracture
KW  -  and cracks; 05.20.-y Classical statistical mechanics
TI  - Statistical properties of fractures in damaged materials
AV  - none
N2  - We introduce a model for the dynamics of mud cracking in the limit of of extremely thin layers. In this model the growth of fracture proceeds by selecting the part of the material with the smallest (quenched) breaking threshold. In addition, weakening affects the area of the sample neighbour to the crack. Due to the simplicity of the model, it is possible to derive some analytical results. In particular, we find that the total time to break down the sample grows with the dimension L of the lattice as L2 even though the percolating cluster has a non-trivial fractal dimension. Furthermore, we obtain a formula for the mean weakening with time of the whole sample.
SN  - 0295-5075      
ER  -