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Fracture Mechanics at the meso-scopic level
M. Patricio
Project description:
In engineering structures the possibility of existence of small cracks
cannot be neglected, as it may lead to huge disasters. To tackle this
problem, special cares should be taken in the design and construction
of structures. In some situations, the repair or replacement of
fractured structures might be the correct way to proceed. However, this
is not always possible nor desirable. Firstly, it may be expensive or
technically difficult to do so. On the other hand, the mere fact of
having a defect on a structure does not mean it is not safe anymore. In
the past years, increasing demands for energy and material convervation
have been dictating that the structures be assigned with a smaller
safety margin. This makes accurate estimates of the flaw tolerance of
structures increasingly important.
The current problems on Fracture mechanics have typically been viewed
from the macroscopic or the microscopic points of view. In this
project, we aim at obtaining a link between both points of view, by
looking at the problem at the meso-scale level.
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