Abstract
An analysis method for the reliability of ceramic structures subjected to thermal shocks is presented. Flaws with the size of given probability distribution function are assumed to be distributed at random with a certain density per unit volume in the structures. Criterions for crack instability are derived for brittle solids under general thermal stresses. A probabilistic failure model is presented to study the probability of crack instability for brittle solids containing cracks with uncertain size. The reliabilities of brittle structures are evaluated based on the weakest-link hypothesis, which states that a structure fails when the cracks in any differential volume become unstable. A numerical example is given to demonstrate the application of the proposed method.