Mathematics

We present a recent existence result concerning the quasi-static evolution of cracks in hyperelastic brittle materials, in the frame-work of finite elasticity with non-interpenetration. In particular, here we consider the problem where no Dirichlet conditions are imposed, the boundary is traction-free, and the body is subject only to time-dependent volume forces. This allows us to present the main ideas of the proof in a simpler way, avoiding some of the technicalities needed in the general case, studied in.