ABSTRACT
The possibility of optimising the amount of energy required to fracture materials is of great interest in connection with many applications. Energy inputs for fracture induced by short impulse loadings are of major importance in such areas as percussive, explosive, hydraulic, electro-impulse and other means of mining, drilling, pounding etc. In these cases energy input usually accounts for the largest part of the process cost (e.g. Royal Dutch Petroleum Company Annual Report, 2003). Taking into consideration the fact that the efficiency of the above-mentioned processes rarely exceeds a few percent, the importance of energy inputs optimization becomes evident.
