Limiting velocity of crack propagation in elastic materials

A crack is represented as a continuous set of linear dislocations. Simple analytical expressions are obtained for the potential and kinetic energies of the environment of moving cracks and the attached mass of cracks for an arbitrary form of the stress applied to the crack $P(x)$. It is shown that the indicated analytical expressions are bilinear integrals of the functions $P(x)$ and $\delta P(x)/\delta x$. These integrals are calculated in explicit form for a constant stress over the entire crack length and the stress due to the action of molecular adhesion forces in a narrow region near the crack openings. It is shown that the calculation results does not depend on the form of molecular adhesion forces. The proposed approach to describing cracks and calculations based on it has made it possible for the first time to obtain a complete analytical expression for the limiting crack propagation velocity in elastic materials as a function of the main mechanical characteristics of such materials.