Threshold fracture energy in solid particle erosion

The effect of geometrical shape of eroding absolutely rigid particles on the threshold rate of failure has been studied. The Shtaerman-Kilchevsky theory of quasi-static blunt impact, which generalizes Hertz's classical impact theory, is used for modeling the frictionless contact interaction of an axially-symmetric particle with an elastic half-space. The incubation time fracture criterion is applied for predicting surface fracture. It is shown that there exist a critical value of the particle shape parameter such that for all its lower values the fracture energy possesses a nonzero minimal value.