Crackling dynamics in material failure as the signature of a self-organized dynamic phase transition

Bonamy, Daniel; Santucci, Stéphane; Ponson, Laurent

Crackling dynamics in material failure as the signature of a self-organized dynamic phase transition

Authors

Bonamy, Daniel

Santucci, Stéphane

Ponson, Laurent

Description

We derive here a linear elastic stochastic description for slow crack growth in heterogeneous materials. This approach succeeds in reproducing quantitatively the intermittent crackling dynamics observed recently during the slow propagation of a crack along a weak heterogeneous plane of a transparent Plexiglas block [Måløy {\it et al.}, PRL {\bf 96} 045501]. In this description, the quasi-static failure of heterogeneous media appears as a self-organized critical phase transition. As such, it exhibits universal and to some extent predictable scaling laws, analogue to that of other systems like for example magnetization noise in ferromagnets.