Unit 1

Introduction to Fracture Mechanics: Failures in structures – types and causes, historical perspective, fracture mechanics approach to design -energy criterion, stress intensity approach, time dependent crack growth and damage tolerance, effect of material properties on fracture.

Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LFEM): Stress concentration effect of flaws, Griffith energy balance, the energy release rate, instability and resistance curve(Rcurve), stress analysis of cracks, relationship between stress intensity factor and energy release rate (K and G), crack tip plasticity, mixed mode crack initiation and propagation.

Unit 2

Elastic Plastic Fracture Mechanics (EPFM): Crack-Tip-Opening Displacement (CTOD), the J contour integral and its determination, relationships between J and CTOD, crack-growth resistance curves, J-controlled fracture.

Fracture mechanism in metals and non-metals: Ductile fracture, cleavage, the ductile-brittle transition, intergranular fracture, fracture in polymeric materials, and fracture in ceramic and ceramic composites.

Unit 3

• Ramesh K. – ‘E-book on Engineering Fracture Mechanics’ – IIT Madras – 2006
• Janssen M., Zuidema and Wanhill R. J. H. – ‘Fracture Mechanics’ – VSSD (Delft University of Technology) – 2006 – 2^nd Edition
• Kumar P. – ‘Elements of Fracture Mechanics’ – Wheeler Publishing – 1999
• Dahlberg T. and Ekberg S. – ‘Failure Fracture Fatigue: An Introduction’ – Overseas Press (India) – 2006
• Suresh S. – ‘Fatigue of Materials’ – Cambridge University Press – 1998 – 2^nd Edition