Recent application of caustics on experimental dynamic fracture studies

Combining the caustic method with high-speed photography is an efficient optical measurement technique to study the dynamic fracture behaviours of homogenous and isotropic material. In the last decade, the main emphasis is extended to study dynamic fracture of anisotropic material and dynamic propagation of multi-cracks and interface cracks in practical engineering materials. In this paper, the recent advances and applications about the dynamic caustic method in China are reviewed, such as impact response and dynamic fracture of composite materials (fibre composites, functionally gradient materials and nanometre composites), and dynamic interaction and propagation of multi-cracks and interface cracks. Particularly, some new numerical methods were developed to solve the complicated caustic equations by introducing both the maximum characteristic size and the relevant angles in caustic patterns. Also, some important experimental results in fracture mechanics are described, and the potential research prospects about dynamic caustics are included as well.