The book summarizes recent international research and experimental developments regarding fatigue crack growth investigations of rubber materials. It shows the progress in fundamental as well as advanced research of fracture investigation of rubber material under fatigue loading conditions, especially from the experimental point of view. However, some chapters will describe the progress in numerical modeling and physical description of fracture mechanics and cavitation phenomena in rubbers. Initiation and propagation of cracks in rubber materials are dominant phenomena which determine the lifetime of these soft rubber materials and, as a consequence, the lifetime of the corresponding final rubber parts in various fields of application. Recently, these phenomena became of great scientific interest due to the development of new experimental methods, concepts and models. Furthermore, crack phenomena have an extraordinary impact on rubber wear and abrasion of automotive tires; and understanding of crack initiation and growth in rubbers will help to support the growthing number of activities and worldwide efforts of reduction of tire wear losses and abrasion based emissions.

This comprehensive overview of the whole field of fatigue and fracture of metallic materials covers both the theoretical background and some of the latest experimental techniques. It provides a summary of the complex interactions between material microstructure and cracks, classifying them with respect to the overall damage process with a focus on microstructurally short cracks and dynamic embrittlement. It furthermore introduces new concepts for the numerical treatment of fatigue microcrack propagation and their implementation in fatigue-life prediction models.This comprehensive overview of the whole field of fatigue and fracture of metallic materials covers both the theoretical background and the latest experimental techniques. It provides a summary of the complex interactions between material microstructure and cracks, classifying them with respect to the overall damage process. It furthermore introduces new concepts for the numerical treatment of fatigue microcrack propagation and their implementation in fatigue-life prediction models.

Novel techniques for modeling 3D cracks and their evolution in solids are presented. Cracks are modeled in terms of signed distance functions (level sets). Stress, strain and displacement field are determined using the extended finite elements method (X-FEM). Non-linear constitutive behavior for the crack tip region are developed within this framework to account for non-linear effect in crack propagation. Applications for static or dynamics case are provided.

Fracture mechanics has established itself as an important discipline of growing interest to those working to assess the safety, reliability and service life of engineering structures and materials. In order to calculate the loading situation at cracks and defects, nowadays numerical techniques like finite element method (FEM) have become indispensable tools for a broad range of applications. The present monograph provides an introduction to the essential concepts of fracture mechanics, its main goal being to procure the special techniques for FEM analysis of crack problems, which have to date only been mastered by experts. All kinds of static, dynamic and fatigue fracture problems are treated in two- and three-dimensional elastic and plastic structural components. The usage of the various solution techniques is demonstrated by means of sample problems selected from practical engineering case studies. The primary target group includes graduate students, researchers in academia and engineers in practice.

Fracture is a major cause of failure in metallic and non-metallic materials and structures. An understanding of the micro- and macro- mechanisms of fracture enables materials scientists to develop materials with high fracture resistance, which in turn helps engineers and designers to ensure the soundness and integrity of structures made from these materials. The International Congress on Fracture is held every four years and is an occasion to take stock of the major achievements in the broad field of fracture, to honour those who have made lasting contributions to this field, and to reflect on the future directions. ICF9 is published in six volumes covering the areas of:-- Failure Analysis, Remaining Life Assessment, Life Extension and Repair- Failure of Multiphase and Non-Metallic Materials- Fatigue of Metallic and Non-Metallic Materials and Structures- Theoretical and Computational Fracture Mechanics and New Directions- Testing and Characterization Methods, and Interfacial Fracture Mechanics- High Strain Rate Fracture and Impact Mechanics.