The Design and Application of Shear Fracture Propagation Studies

Abstract

Shear fracture propagation is studied using an analysis based upon the thermodynamic equilibrium of a constant velocity fracture. This equation is shown to describe the behavior of all full scale tests which exhibit constant velocity propagation. This equation is developed to identify the conditions for fracture arrest; the resulting formulation is again consistent with full scale test behavior. The paper also discusses the application of the theory to existing and new pipelines.