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The growth of cracks in photoelastic material and glass under compression is being studied as part of an investigation of brittle fracture of rock. In compression the most severely stressed crack is inclined at about 30° to the axis of compression. Such cracks, when either isolated or placed in an array, grow along a curved path which becomes parallel with the direction of compression. When this direction is attained, growth stops, unless applied compression is increased considerably. Cracks in certain en échelon arrays start to grow at much smaller applied stress than that required to enlarge an isolated crack.
Brace et al. (Sat,) studied this question.