Computer simulation of the direction of thermal crack growth in refractory

The process of crack growth in a refractory material located in a temperature field during its operation is investigated. It is assumed that the elastic properties of the material have a temperature dependence, which is especially characteristic of materials near the melting temperature. It is shown that, depending on the orientation of the crack axis relative to the direction of the temperature field gradient, braking, a change in the direction of crack growth, or the occurrence of secondary cracks in the vicinity of the tip of the main crack are possible. The obtained calculated results were successfully confirmed by an experiment on thermal destruction of freshwater ice blocks, which, similar to quasi-brittle composite materials (refractories), demonstrates a pronounced change in elastic properties near the melting point.