Rupture velocity of plane strain shear cracks

Propagation of plane strain shear cracks is calculated numerically by using finite difference equations with second-order accuracy. The rupture model, in which stress drops gradually as slip increases, combines two different rupture criteria: (1) slip begins at a finite stress level; (2) finite energy is absorbed per unit area as the crack advances. Solutions for this model are nonsingular. In some cases there may be a transition from rupture velocity less than Rayleigh velocity to rupture velocity greater than shear wave velocity. The locus of this transition is surveyed in the parameter space of fracture energy, upper yield stress, and crack length. A solution for this model can be represented as a convolution of a singular solution having abrupt stress drop with a rupture distribution function. The convolution eliminates the singularity and spreads out the rupture front in space-time. If the solution for abrupt stress drop has an inverse square root singularity at the crack tip, as it does for sub-Rayleigh rupture velocity, then the rupture velocity of the convolved solution is independent of the rupture distribution function and depends only on the fracture energy and crack length. On the other hand, a crack with abrupt stress drop propagating faster than the shear wave velocity has a lower-order singularity. A supershear upture front must necessarily be spread out in space-time if a finite fracture energy is absorbed as stress drops.