Influence of microcracks on a propagation of macrocracks

In this paper, a continuous numerical model is presented, which is used to analyse the influence of the microstructure of an intermetallic alloy on its fatigue properties. The simulation deals with crack propagation in a bi-dimensional, heterogeneous brittle material. The model points out the importance of microstructure on the propagation rate, and draws a correlation between the morphological features of the simulated cracks and fatigue the toughness.