@article {43,
	title = {Concurrent factors determine toughening in the hydraulic fracture of poroelastic composites},
	journal = {Meccanica},
	volume = {52},
	year = {2017},
	pages = {3489-3498},
	abstract = {<p align="justify">Brittle materials fail catastrophically. In consequence of their limited flaw-tolerance, failure occurs by localized fracture and is typically a dynamic process. Recently, experiments on epithelial cell monolayers have revealed that this scenario can be significantly modified when the material susceptible to cracking is adhered to a hydrogel substrate. Thanks to the hydraulic coupling between the brittle layer and the poroelastic substrate, such a composite can develop a toughening mechanism that relies on the simultaneous growth of multiple cracks. Here, we study this remarkable behaviour by means of a detailed model, and explore how the material and loading parameters concur in determining the macro- scopic toughness of the system. By extending a previous study, our results show that rapid loading conveys material toughness by promoting distributed cracking. Moreover, our theoretical findings may suggest innovative architectures of flaw-insensitive materials with higher toughness.\&nbsp;</p>},
	keywords = {brittle layer, cohesive zone, fracture, hydraulic fracture, hydrogel, multiple-cracking, toughening},
	doi = {10.1007/s11012-017-0621-5},
	author = {Alessandro Lucantonio and Giovanni Noselli}
}
@article {40,
	title = {Hydraulic fracture and toughening of a brittle layer bonded to a hydrogel},
	journal = {Physical Review Letters},
	volume = {115},
	year = {2015},
	pages = {188105},
	abstract = {<p align="justify">Brittle materials propagate opening cracks under tension. When stress increases beyond a critical magnitude, then quasistatic crack propagation becomes unstable. In the presence of several precracks, a brittle material always propagates only the weakest crack, leading to catastrophic failure. Here, we show that all these features of brittle fracture are fundamentally modified when the material susceptible to cracking is bonded to a hydrogel, a common situation in biological tissues. In the presence of the hydrogel, the brittle material can fracture in compression and can hydraulically resist cracking in tension. Furthermore, the poroelastic coupling regularizes the crack dynamics and enhances material toughness by promoting multiple cracking.</p>},
	keywords = {hydraulic fracture, multiple-cracking, toughening},
	doi = {10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.188105},
	author = {Alessandro Lucantonio and Giovanni Noselli and Xavier Trepat and Marino Arroyo and Antonio DeSimone}
}
