Fracture is a natural reaction of solids to relieve stress and shed excess energy. Fragility of solids is a constant threat to our survival as we drive over a bridge; go through a tunnel; or, live inside a building. Our bones and teeth are just as fragile as the glass and china we use. Trees bow in the wind before they break; and, a blast of gunpowder breaks a mountain into a million fragments. Earthquakes shake and break the thin crustal shell on which we live. We accept fracture as a part of life and admire solids for what they provide. Fragility is not always perceived as a baneful threat because if all solids were unbreakable, we would not be able to break things when we want to. Just imagine an unbreakable eggshell that cannot be hatched; or, a hard grain of wheat that cannot be ground. Whether it is cracking bottles, breaking wood, or chipping rock for making sculptures, controlling fracture holds the key. Thus, in a way, fracture, like fire and wind, is both a foe and a friend of mankind – friend if controlled foe otherwise. Prediction, prevention, control and treatment of fractures represent a big bulk of engineering and medical practice today. Fracture has brought together a diverse group of professionals ranging from orthopaedics and dentists to crash helmet designers and earthquake experts. This coming together of engineers and doctors has led to major breakthroughs in fracture treatment and control. A spectacular array of products including injectable glues, metallic implants and reinforcing devices is now available for fixing fractured bones, teeth and cartilage¹. Fracture phenomena in general are about just as wild and unpredictable as fire, wind, rain and thunder. Taming these elements of nature to protect life and property is the principal theme of control. Today, we have buildings that are fire-proof, rain-proof and even earthquake-proof (designed to rock but not break in case of an earthquake).

All these engineering and medical marvels notwithstanding, strategies for prediction and prevention of fracture are largely unclear. Though a post mortem can tell us how a thing broke, it is hard to tell when, where and why fractures strike solids. Fractures unleash even more extraordinary issues as in the emission of electrons and photons from fracturing rocks and ceramics². Another issue of great concern is bone fracture. Natural healing is so good that it is hard to tell where it broke in younger people³. However, in older adults, particularly women and some rare neonatal cases (Fragilitas ossium⁴), healing becomes difficult. Current science of fracture is in vigorous pursuit of answers to these questions.

This rather long and rambling prelude serves us to highlight the vast appeal of the subject in anticipation of a sprawling coverage of topics expected of an encyclopaedia. The book under review does not meet the expectations of general readers and new scientists exploring interdisciplinary ideas of great current interest. Nor does this volume address computer models and molecular simulations, currently a rage in solid state science. Instead, the encyclopaedist Cherepanov weaves a dramatic tale of fracture mechanics narrated through articles and commentaries interspersed with some interesting historical, biographical and anecdotal information on people and events. When compared to the monumental compilations by Liebowitz⁵ and Sih⁶, each running over 4000 pages in seven volumes, Cherepanov’s single volume 870-page encyclopaedia is like a bird’s-eye view of the vast landscape of fracture mechanics. This encyclopaedia emanates a fresh and rich mathematical flavour of Soviet contributions to the subject making up nearly 40% of the pages. This is indeed a commendable effort to make their work accessible to English readers. These contributions also serve to highlight some original work in fracture mechanics of interest to bibliographers.

Presented in 41 chapters by over 50 international experts, the book opens with two republished articles of the two grandmasters: Griffith (ch. 1) and Irwin (ch. 2). Four more republished articles of Cherepanov (ch. 3), Knott (ch. 13), Leonov and Panasyuk (ch. 19) and Eshelby (ch. 23) along with four commentaries by Bui
(ch. 6), Dugdale (ch. 9), Cottrell (ch. 18) and Yokobori (ch. 34) recreate the early excitement in the development of fracture concepts, experiments and applications.

The remaining chapters describe the seventies developments which brought together mechanical, civil, aerospace, marine, chemical and metallurgical engineers to address fracture problems using the Griffith–Irwin concepts. This promoted the establishment of standard testing and design procedures to help avert catastrophic brittle failure in service. These chapters are contributed by senior workers in the field like Erdogan (ch. 5), Folias (ch. 12), Salganik (ch. 16) Liebowitz (chs 26, 27) and Nishioka (ch. 30).

Theocaris (ch. 10), Karihaloo (ch. 21), Evans et al. (ch. 39) and McCartney (ch. 41) address fracture problems in composites, a major research pursuit over the last 20 years. This is also the case for dynamic fracture mechanics, which has evolved rapidly following the widespread use of computer techniques.

This new encyclopaedia does not provide much material on experimental development which also perhaps reflects the declining emphasis on experiments in current science and engineering education. Unfortunately, theoretical and numerical methods are still not powerful enough to address all the complexities attending fracture phenomena. Particularly dynamic problems are highly sensitive to the material, problem geometry and the loading parameters. There are times when theoretical and numerical predictions become rather embarrassingly absurd. This is the reason why automotive, aerospace, nuclear and chemical industries rely more on field inputs and customer feedback; and, theoretical and numerical models serve only as guides. Dynamic fracture phenomena are still far too complex to expect computer simulations to mimic reality for a long time to come.

K. R. Y. Simha

Department of Mechanical Engineering,

Indian Institute of Science,