Crack street: the cycloidal wake of a cylinder ripping through a thin solid sheet
Crack street: the cycloidal wake of a cylinder ripping through a thin solid sheet,
Ghatak, A. and L. Mahadevan, Physical Review Letters . 91, 215507, 2003.
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Abstract
When a cylindrical tool cuts through a thin sheet of a relatively brittle material, it leaves behind a
visually arresting crack street in its wake, reminiscent of a vortex street in the wake of a cylinder
moving through a fluid. We show that simple geometrical arguments based on the interplay of in-plane
stretching and out-of-plane bending suffice to explain the cycloidal morphology of the curved crack.
The coupling between geometry and dynamics also allows us to explain the ‘‘stick-slip’’-like behavior
of tearing and suggests that these oscillations should occur generically in the brittle fracture of thin
solid films.