Continuum mechanics approaches of material failure routinely seek the constitutive response of the representative volume elements to capture the macroscopic response. However, the finer aspects of the damage accumulation, e.g., the intermittent fluctuations in force, scale-free statistics of acoustic emissions, etc., that are representative of the failure mechanisms at the lower length scales are missed. Similarly, the homogenous considerations of elastic and failure properties may limit insights on mechanical behaviour of biomaterials where structure and property are intricately related.  

My research on the failure of brittle disordered solids during the past decade has focused on bridging the micro- with macro-scale properties.  The cornerstone of this approach is in accounting for the interplay between elastic interactions and disordered properties of the material elements.  While these aspects have been long studied using concepts of statistical physics, the insights were rather qualitative.  In the following, I briefly share details of my effort towards developing a quantitative interpretation of the collective nature of damage evolution through experiments and mechanics based models.