Statistical characteristics of fracture surfaces in high-strength steel drop weight tear test specimens

• Height coordinates of fracture surface of DWTT specimens obey the Weibull distribution.
• Weibull distribution shape parameter of coordinates increases as does % of ductile fracture.
• Height differences are greater with higher ductile fracture percentages.
• The fractal dimension decreases with increasing ductile fracture %.

Fracture surfaces of DWTT broken specimens are analyzed using statistical methods and fractal concepts. The dependence of fracture surface characteristics on the ductile fracture percentage is studied. The shape parameter of the Weibull distribution of fracture surface height coordinates grows with increasing ductile fracture percentage. The Hurst exponent of the investigated fracture surfaces ranges from a small length scale regime to a large length scale regime, which approximately amounts to the universal value of 0.8. The fractal dimension of the fracture surface as a decreasing function of the ductile fracture percentage is discussed from several points of view.