Two-dimensional dynamic and three-dimensional fracture in viscoelastic materials

This paper presents a numerical scheme specially developed for 2-D and 3-D viscoelastodynamic fracture problems. The method, referred to as the spectral scheme, is derived from a spectral form of the viscoelastodynamic boundary integral relation between the traction stresses acting on the fracture plane and the corresponding displacement discontinuities. It accommodates planar cracks of arbitrary shapes embedded in an infinite homogeneous viscoelastic medium and subjected to an arbitrary combination of time- and space-varying tensile and shear loading. A wide range of cohesive models can be incorporated to characterize the failure process taking place in the vicinity of the spontaneously propagating crack tip. Various viscoelastic dynamic fracture problems involving stationary and spontaneously propagating cracks are presented, including a study of the material-induced dissipative effect on the propagation of transient surface waves, and an investigation of the effects of a simple rate-dependent cohesive failure model on spontaneous crack propagation in elastic and viscoelastic materials. © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.