Seminars

Abstract: I propose a reduced-dimension variational model for fracture and debonding of a thin film on an elastic substrate: a prototypical system observed in many situations, including drying of paints and thermal barrier coatings. This model allows to explore the interplay between the two failure modes, through the formulation of an irreversible, variational, evolutionary, problem. I will show that this model is derived rigorously and asymptotically, studying a standard, elastic, three-dimensional problem of a brittle thin film over a brittle adhesion layer. I will then show closed form solutions in a simple and rich one-dimensional case, before presenting numerical experiments in realistic situations, providing qualitative comparison with experiments. Finally, I will discuss some recent extensions of this work to gain further insight into the origin of the geometric nonlinearity responsible for the morphologic properties of the emerging complex fracture patterns.