PSI - Issue 66

Mansi Gupta et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 66 (2024) 122–134

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Mansi Gupta et al./ Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2025) 000 – 000

Fig. 8. Velocity magnitude at (a) 0 ps, (b) 600 ps, (c) 1095 ps.

Fracture energy and fracture toughness are critical parameters related to the material’s resistance to crack initiation and propagation. Fracture energy corresponds to the amount of energy required to create new surfaces (cracks) in the material, while fracture toughness represents the material's ability to resist crack growth. MD simulations allow detailed examination of crack formation and propagation mechanisms in CSH at the nanoscale, providing a deeper understanding of its fracture properties. For calculating the fracture energy at atomic scale in concrete-like material, Brochard et al. (2013) presented a novel methodo logy considering the material’s heterogeneity. The energy release rate is estimated by considering the new surface area generated by crack propagation as: = ∆∆ =( ∆ ∞ )∫ =( ∆ ∞ )∫ ∈ 0 (2)