Crack Intensification on Brittle Materials Under Impact Loading Based on Peridynamics

A crack intensification model was proposed using the peridynamics (PD) theory. The model was verified using the classic Kalthoff–Winkler experiment and the rigid ball impacting a float glass plate experiment. Numerical simulations were conducted to investigate the damage to glass plates by the impact of rigid and flexible balls under different initial velocities. For the rigid impactor, the cracks in the glass plate were distributed radially when the initial impact velocity was relatively low. As the impact velocity increased, circumferential cracks appeared and gradually developed into a complex crack network. The damage rate of the glass plate increased proportionally with the increase in the initial impact velocity. The reaction force on the rigid ball and the impact duration were proportional and inversely proportional to the initial impact velocity, respectively. For the flexible impactor, at a low speed, the impactor has a small range of damage at the position in contact with the glass plate, and the shape remains intact. When the impact speed increased, the spherical structure became unstable and splashed together with the glass plate. The damage rate of the glass plate is directly proportional to the impact velocity. Higher velocities result in a more extensive region of damage around the impact site, manifested by increasingly intricate patterns of fractures.