Crack Paths 2009

Vicenza, IT
September 23-25, 2009

Crack growth can take place under both static and fatigue loading. The complete solution of a crack growth problem includes the determination of the path taken by the crack. The crack path in a critical component or structure in aerospace, automotive, offshore and other industries can determine whether failure is benign or catastrophic. Knowledge of potential crack paths is also needed for the selection of appropriate non-destructive testing procedures. Agreement between theoretically predicted and experimentally determined crack paths is sometimes poor, and further information is needed on how to ensure that a crack path is benign.

The determination of crack paths is a matter of concern to engineers, industry experts and research scientists, from both a fundamental science standpoint and a technological one. The International Conference on Crack Paths will bring together both fatigue and fracture experts from Industries, Universities and so on, to exchange recent information and provide a discussion forum on how to promote research and development in this field early in the 21st Century.

The scope of this Conference is to focus on the state-of-the-art experimental techniques, and numerical and analytical models for the determination of crack paths in solids made of a broad range of materials, together with the application of crack path data to the design of components and structures subjected to both static and fatigue loading.

This Conference follows the Conferences FCP 2003 and CP 2006, held in Parma, Italy. Special issues of International journals have been devoted to work presented at those Conferences (Fatigue and Fracture of Engineering Materials and Structures, Vol.28, No.1-2, 2005, and Engineering Fracture Mechanics, Vol.75, No.3-4, 2008).

Members of different industries and scientists from all over the world are invited to contribute with presentations on any of the following topics (in the case of both static and fatigue loading):

Experimental Determination of CP
Theoretical Prediction of CP
Life Assessment Methods based on CP Evaluation
Microscopic Aspects of CP
CP of Surface Cracks
CP of Short Cracks
Effect of Large Scale Yielding on CP
Effect of Material Inhomogeneities on CP
Effect of Non-Proportional Cyclic Loading on CP
Effect of Environmental Conditions on CP
CP in Advanced Materials
Laboratory Methods of Controlling CP
In-Service Inspection of CP
Application of CP Concepts and Data in Design
Industrial Application of CP Concepts and Data