Fracture Problems in a Nonhomogeneous Medium

Abstract

Most materials one has to deal with in problems relating to geophysics are generally nonhomogeneous. For example, in the lower end of the scale rocks, which are generally assumed to be homogeneous in bulk, usually consist of grains of relatively very high modulus and grain boundary filling material of lower modulus. In the higher end of the scale the layered and stacked big bulks of materials forming the earth’s crust may obviously have very different mechanical properties. Thus, from the grain boundary separation in rocks to the propagation of large cracks in the crust running into or going through the interfaces separating two different materials one is basically dealing with fracture of a nonhomogeneous medium.