Probabilistic modeling of quasibrittle fracture and size effect

摘要

Progress in structural design requires probabilistic modeling of quasibrittlernfracture, which is typical of concrete, fiber composites, rocks, toughened ceramics, sea ice andrnmany ‘high tech’ materials. The most important consequence of quasibrittle behavior is arndeterministic (energetic) size effect, the theory of which evolved near the end of last century.rnAfter a review of the background, the present plenary lecture describes the recent efforts torncombine the classical Weibull theory of statistical size effect due to local strength randomnessrnwith the recently developed energetic theory, and also surveys various related problems, suchrnas the probability tail structure of the stochastic finite element methods, the random scatterrnin fracture testing, the role of fractal nature of cracks, the reliability provisions of designrncodes, and the lessons from past structural catastrophes.