Homogenization of Griffith’s Criterion for Brittle Laminates

We consider a periodic, linear elastic laminate with a brittle crack, evolving along a prescribed path according to Griffith’s criterion. We study the homogenized limit of this evolution, as the size of the layers vanishes. The limit evolution is governed again by Griffith’s criterion, in terms of the energy release (of the homogenized elastic energy) and an effective toughness, which, in general, differs from the \(\hbox {weak}^*\) ${\text{weak}}^{\ast }$ limit of the periodic toughness. We provide a variational characterization of the effective toughness and, by the energy identity, we link the toughening effect (in the limit) to the micro-instabilities of the evolution (in the periodic laminate). Finally, we provide a couple of explicit calculations of the effective toughness in the anti-plane setting, showing, in particular, an example of toughening by elastic contrast.