RESEARCH ARTICLE
Application of Fracture Mechanics to Cracking Problems in Soils
G. Juárez-Luna*, 1, G. Ayala2
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2014Volume: 8
First Page: 1
Last Page: 8
Publisher ID: TOBCTJ-8-1
DOI: 10.2174/1874836801408010001
Article History:
Received Date: 11/11/2013Revision Received Date: 23/12/2013
Acceptance Date: 24/12/2013
Electronic publication date: 10/1/2014
Collection year: 2014
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
This paper analyzes the problem of fracture in soils using the linear elastic fracture mechanics theory. Six cases of practical interest are investigated where the soil is subjected to different critical conditions that may produce cracks. To model the phenomenon of crack propagation, a two-dimensional fracture mechanics finite element program is used. In all cases, the properties of clays in the Valley of Mexico was used. The self-weight of the soil is considered as the main cause of geostatic stresses in the medium. Based on results from previous studies, the value of the critical stress intensity factor is calculated and validated. It is assumed that, only mode I fracture occurs. The crack depths obtained with the numerical models are congruent with the field data of existing geotechnical studies in the Valley of Mexico.