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In this work we present the design of a new test geometry inspired by theTapered Double Cantilever Beam (TDCB) specimen that is shown to provide animproved characterization of the fracture properties of brittle solids. First,we show that our new design results in an exponential increase of the specimencompliance with crack length, leading to an extremely stable crack growthduring the test. We determine an analytical description of this behavior, whichprovides a simple procedure to extract the fracture energy without depending onfinite element calculations. Validation tests are done onpolymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) specimens. We use both finite element simulationsand our analytical model to interpret the data. We find a very good agreementbetween the toughness determined by both methods. The stable nature of crackgrowth in our improved TDCB specimens results in a precise control of the crackspeed. This feature is employed to go one step further and characterize thevariations of toughness with crack speed. We propose an original optimizationprocedure for the determination of the material parameters characterizing thekinetic law describing the toughness rate dependency. Overall, the approachproposed together with the newly designed test geometry offer unprecedentedpossibilities for the full and accurate characterization of the fracturebehavior of brittle materials such as rocks, sandstone, mortar etc.

Adaptation of the tapered double cantilever beam test for the measurement of fracture energy and its variations with crack speed