Recent developments in brittle and quasi-brittle failure assessment of engineering materials by means of local approaches

Dealing with brittle failure of notched components and summarizing some recent experimental results reported in the literature, the main aim of the present contribution is to present a review of some local approaches applicable near stress raisers both sharp and blunt. The reviewed criteria allowed the present authors to develop a new approach based on the volume strain energy density (SED), which has been recently applied to assess the brittle failure of a large number of materials. The main features of the SED approach are outlined in the paper and its peculiarities and advantages accurately underlined. Some examples of applications are reported, as well. The present review is based on the authors' experience over more than 15 years and the contents of their personal library. It is not a dispassionate literature survey.