1. Introduction to mechanics of material, theory of materials failures and fracture mechanics. Linear elastic fracture mechanics – energy/stress approach. 2. Fracture parameters of material, fracture toughness, fracture energy, characteristic length. Methods for determination of fracture parameters, function of geometry. 3. Two-parameters fracture mechanics. Non-linear fracture behaviour, approximate non-linear models, resistance curves and surfaces. 4. Toughening processes quantification. Determination of brittleness number. Size effect theory. 5. Fractal dimension of crack and fracture surfaces. 6. Modelling of failure of concrete structures using finite element method. Constitutive equations for concrete and other quasi-brittle materials. 7.–8. Strain localization problems. Crack band model, non-local continuum mechanics. Fictitious crack model. Models of fixed/rotated crack. 9.–10. Software; application – modelling of experiments/structures.

1. Introduction to fracture mechanics, information sources. Theoretical study of fracture experiment. 2. Fracture test – three-point bending of beam with central edge notch. 3. Test evaluation – determination of effective fracture toughness, critical crack opening displacement, specific fracture energy. 4. Wedge splitting fracture test (WST). 5. WST evaluation – determination of fracture toughness, critical crack opening displacement, specific fracture energy. 6. Resistance curves of selected fracture parameters. Quantification of toughening processes. Brittleness number determination. 7.–8. Numerical simulation – data preparation. Software, simulation of fracture experiment. 9.–10. Using parameters obtained in modelling of structural response. Credit.