The effect of the geometry and the load level on the dynamic failure of rotating disks

The simpli_ed and the higher order curved beam theory published previously "International Journal of Solids and Structures 29"0#\ 026 038 "0882# and International Journal of Solids and Structures 20"03#\ 0838 0854 "0883## are applied to rotating disks with rectangular cross section subject to an instantaneous radial failure[ The dependence of the angular size of the debris on the inner to outer radius ratio and on the load level is examined and compared with semi!empirical and experimental results in the literature[ Finite element calculations con_rm the results obtained with the higher order beam theory for moderate to high inner to outer radius ratios[ It is shown that agreement with the experimental results can be further improved by a proper choice of the boundary conditions