Interaction of shear waves and propagating cracks
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 29, 2026

Crack Monitoring in Resonance Fatigue Testing of Welded Specimens Using Digital Image Correlation
Published on: September 29, 2019
1Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
Abstract:
Shear waves generated from an ultrasonic transducer are used to twist dynamically growing crack fronts; the response of crack front to such external perturbations is examined in order to investigate the primary cause of surface roughening in brittle materials. The response of the crack front is found to be linear in amplitude and frequency of the perturbing wave and without persistence. The response to random perturbations, e.g., by localized material inhomogeneities at the free surface, is also discussed.
Related Concept Videos
Travelling Waves
Water waves, sound waves, and seismic waves are some examples of mechanical waves. For water waves, the wave propagation medium is water;...
Propagation of Waves
Consider a scenario where a wave propagates from a string of low linear mass density to a string of high linear mass density. In such a case, the reflected wave is out of phase with respect to the incident wave, however the...
Interference and Diffraction
Interference and Superposition of Waves
Interference occurs in mechanical waves, such as sound waves, waves on a string, and surface water waves. Mechanical waves correspond to the physical displacement of particles. Hence,...
Shock Waves
When the source's speed approaches the speed of sound, constructive interference between successive wavefronts emitted by the source occurs immediately behind it. Initially, scientists believed that this constructive interference would result in such high pressures...
Relation Between the Distributed Load and Shear

