abstract
- Partial contacts between faces are common in cracks. They produce strong stiffening effect, even if they are small. The cross-property connection implies that they produce a similar effect on the crack resistivity contributions. These effects lead to a substantial reduction of the ¿effective¿ crack density that controls the overall properties. The present work analyzes these issues in a systematic way, as functions of contact distributions. In particular, the effects of contact density and clustering are examined. The paper contains a critical review of the earlier works as well as new results. © 2025