Spring 2010, Tuesday and Thursday 2:30 pm –400 pm, Maxwell Dworkin Room G-135. 

• Instructor: Zhigang Suo, 617-495-3789, suo@seas.harvard.edu, Pierce Hall 309.
• Office hour: Wednesdays 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm.
• No textbook is required.
• Prerequisite: Engineering Sciences 240 or equivalent.  If you are unsure of your background, read the sections on Elements of Linear Elasticity and Plane Elasticity Problems. 
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Homework

Tentative topics

• Trouble with linear elastic theory of strength
• The Griffith paper
• Energy release rate.  Fracture energy
• Applications of fracture mechanics
• Stress intensity factor
• Toughness
• Resistance curve
• Fatigue
• Stress corrosion
• Fracture of rubber 
• Fracture of rubber.  Lecture 2
• The J integral
• Elastic-plastic fracture mechanics.  Lecture 1 
• Elastic-plastic fracture mechanics.  Lecture 2
• Crack bridging.  Lecture 1
• Crack bridging.  Lecture 2
• Mixed-mode fracture.  Curved crack path
• Interfacial fracture
• Fracture resistance due to inelastic deformation

Textbooks.  Quite a few books are available in the library, such as

• Textbooks recommended by students
• B. Lawn, Fracture of Brittle Solids, Cambridge University Press (1993).
• D. Broek, Elementary Engineering Fracture Mechanics.  Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Boston (1986).
• J.M. Barsom and S.T. Rolfe, Fracture and Fatigue Control in Structures.  Prentice Hall, 1999.
• T.L. Anderson, Fracture Mechanics: Fundamentals and Applications. CRC Press, Boston (1995).
• S. Suresh, Fatigue of Materials, Cambridge University Press (1998).
• M.F. Kanninen and C.H. Popelar, Advanced Fracture Mechanics, Oxford Press (1985).
• K.B. Broberg, Cracks and Fracture, Academic Press. (1999)
• L.B. Freund, Dynamic Fracture Mechanics, Cambridge University Press (1990).

Online resources

• Alan Zehnder, Fracture Mechanics Book.
• C.H. Wang, Introduction to Fracture Mechanics
• J. W. Hutchinson, Notes on Nonlinear Fracture Mechanics
• J. W. Hutchinson and Z. Suo, Mixed-Mode Cracking in Layered Materials.
• J. W. Hutchinson, Fracture Mechanics of Thin Films and Multilayers.

Handbooks

• W.C. Young, Roark’s Formulas for Stress and Strain, 6th edition, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1989.
• R.E. Peterson, Stress Concentration Factors, John Wiley, New York, 1974. 2nd edition by W.D. Pilkey, 1997.
• H. Tada, P.C. Paris and G.R. Irwin, The Stress Analysis of Cracks Handbook, Del Research, St. Louis, MO., 1985.

Grading

• Homework (50%)
• Final exam (50%)