On the rheological instability of an elastic damaging medium (Q1190076)

This is an interesting paper on the mathematical description of rheological instabilities in elastic damaged solids. The damage under consideration is of the microcrack type. The behaviour of materials is described by the author's model of continuum fracture in elastic bodies [J. Appl. Math. Mech. 52, No. 2, 237-243 (1988; Zbl 0724.73178)]derived by using the local balance between effective surface energy of microcracks and the cumulative elastic energy of the material surrounding these microcracks. The constraints on the allowable strain values are derived from Hadamard condition, via a process of isothermal approximation, and the violation of this condition is identified with the rheological instability of material. Propagation of weak discontinuities is analysed, generation conditions and spatial characteristics of discontinuity surfaces are examined, and some examples are given.