Syllabus academic year 2010/2011
(Created 2010-07-25.)
FRACTURE MECHANICS, ADVANCED COURSEFHL090
Credits: 7,5. Grading scale: TH. Cycle: A (Second Cycle). Main field: Technology. Language of instruction: The course might be given in English. Optional for: I4, M4bem. Course coordinator: Professor Per Ståhle, Per.Stahle@solid.lth.se, Solid Mechanics. Recommended prerequisits: FHL013 Solid Mechanics, Basic Course or FHLA01 Solid Mechanics, Basic Course or FHL105 Solid Mechanics, Basic Course. Assessment: Education is given as lectures, seminars, supervised training and self studies. The primary aim of the teaching is to encourage and support the student's self studies. Emphasis is put on the selection of models and the execution of calculations. Written examination. The grade is given for the entire course. The grades are: not passed (0) and passed (3 to 5). Home page: http://www.solid.lth.se.

Aim
The purpose of the education is to provide the need for fracture mechanical competence to judge risk for failure and to compute stiffness reductions due to cracks. The aim is that the student should gain knowledge of linear and non-linear fracture mechanics and to serve as an industrial resource with the ability to analyze failures, suggest models for calculation and suggest structural improvement of engineering structures.

Knowledge and understanding
For a passing grade the student must

Skills and abilities
For a passing grade the student must

Judgement and approach
For a passing grade the student must

Contents
Crack tip solutions, displacements of fracture surfaces. Stress and strain fields and path-independent integrals. Basic tensor algebra. Concepts of dissipated energy, stiffness reduction and compleance methods. Materials testing, test specimens for fracture mechanical testing. Limits of linear fracture mechanics, stress intensity factors and fracture toughness. Fatigue, Paris' law and stress corrosion laws. Non-linear fracture mechanical concepts and fracture restance curves.

Literature
Fred Nilsson, Fracture Mechanics - from Theory and Applications, Dept. of Solid Mechanics, KTH, 2001.