Fracture mechanics in Serbia - 49 years of development

Abstract

Development of fracture mechanics in Serbia has been presented. To start with, it was the Magister thesis of Prof. Stojan Sedmak, 49 years ago (1968), as the first milestone. The stress concentration problems have been analysed and solved by means of photo elasticity. The Bovie's problem has been presented, as an illustration of the linear elastic fracture mechanics. It is worth mentioning that Acad. Hikola Hajdin, as the supervisor of the Magister thesis, has insisted on including brittle fracture theory in the thesis, although it was not originally anticipated. Later on, Prof. Stojan Sedmak has completed his doctoral thesis, in 1976. The key contributions were: Determination of KIc for Al alloys, cracked specimens used, the CMOD measurement introduced, material behaviour in presence of cracks analysed. So, well paved road has been established for all later developments, as described in the paper.