Long-Term Strength of Materials: Reliability Assessment and Lifetime Prediction of Engineering Structures [Paperback]

1. Review of Classical Strength of Materials.  2. Commonly Used Mathematical Tools.  3. Equations of Elasticity.  4. Conventional Fracture Mechanics.  5. Cooperative Brittle Fracture (Lifetime Prediction).  6. Solo Brittle Fracture and Statistical Fracture Mechanics.  7. References & appendices.  Appendix I. Summary of Onsager Reciprocal Relations.  Appendix II. Historical Remarks on Energy Release Rates.  Appendix III. Remarks on Emmy Noether's Theorem. 

This textbook introduces the thermodynamics of irreversible processes to address the time dependency of fracture. It identifies principal structural failure types such as brittle damage and ductile failure and covers the life of a structure in a specific environment and load condition, addressing cooperative and solo fracture.

The physics of fracture processes, which includes Fracture mechanics, is crucial for understanding the longevity and reliability of any structure, from fracture initiation to propagation and final catastrophic failure. This textbook introduces the thermodynamics of irreversible processes along with entropy to address the time dependency of fracture.

Working from observations of structural failure, the book identifies the principal failure types such as brittle fracture, with considerations of solo crack initiation and crack propagation associated with collective distributed damage. The other type is ductile fracture, when a crack blunts immediately on the application of stress resulting in large deformation. The book then addresses the life of a structure in a specific environment and load condition, using irreversible thermodynamics and the entropy criterion to address cooperative fracture and novel statistical Fracture mechanics to address solo fracture.

• Applies well-established concepts from mechanics, absent in lS|