Structural Fracture Mechanics

Structural fracture mechanics is the field of structural engineering concerned with the study of load-carrying structures that includes one or several failed or damaged components. It uses methods of analytical solid mechanics, structural engineering, safety engineering, probability theory, and catastrophe theory to calculate the load and stress in the structural components and analyze the safety of a damaged structure. Structural fracture mechanics is the field of structural engineering concerned with the study of load-carrying structures that includes one or several failed or damaged components. It uses methods of analytical solid mechanics, structural engineering, safety engineering, probability theory, and catastrophe theory to calculate the load and stress in the structural components and analyze the safety of a damaged structure. There is a direct analogy between fracture mechanics of solid and structural fracture mechanics: There are different causes of the first component failure: 1) mechanical overload, fatigue (material), unpredicted scenario, etc. 2) “human intervention” like unprofessional behavior or a terrorist attack.