Measurement of Fracture Parameters for a Mixed-Mode Crack Driven by Stress Waves using Image Correlation Technique and High-Speed Digital Photography

Measurement of fracture parameters for a rapidly growing crack in syntactic foam sheets using image correlation technique and high-speed photography is presented. The performance of a rotating mirror-type multi-channel high-speed digital camera to measure transient deformations is assessed by conducting benchmark tests on image intensity variability, rigid translation and rigid rotation. Edge-cracked foam samples are subjected to eccentric impact loading relative to the initial crack plane to produce mixed-mode loading conditions in a three-point bend configuration. High-speed photography is used to record decorated random speckles in the vicinity of the crack tip at a rate of 200 000 frames per second. Two sets of images are recorded, the first set before impact and the second after impact. Using image correlation methodology, crack-tip displacement field histories and dominant strains from the time of impact up to complete fracture are mapped. Over-deterministic least-squares analyses of crack-tip radial and tangential displacements are used to obtain mixed-mode fracture parameters. The measurements are compared with complementary finite element results. The fracture parameters determined from radial displacements seem more robust even when fewer number of higher order terms in the crack-tip asymptotic expansion are used.