Characterization of material inhomogeneity by stationary values of strain energy density

The strain energy density theory is applied to analyze the fracture instability of a mechanical system whose behavior is governed by the interaction of geometry, load and material inhomogeneity. This is accomplished by obtaining the location of the global and local relative minima of the strain energy density function dW/dV denoted, respectively, by [(dW/dV)_min]_g and [(dW/dV)_min]_¢l. The former refers to a fixed global coordinate system for the entire solid while the latter corresponds to local coordinate systems referred to each material point. An unique length parameter “ℓ” representing the distance between [(dW/dV)_min^max]_g and [(dW/dV)_min^max]_ℓ can thus be found and serves as a measure of the degree of system instability tending toward failure by fracture.Numerical results are obtained and displayed graphically for the case of a solid containing an inclusion of dissimilar material. The changes that take place in material inhomogeneity, loading type and physical dimensions of the solid and inclusion are reflected through ℓ. The method suggests the compatibility of ℓ for each member of a multi-component structure in order to avoid premature failure of a single member.     

Fracture instability of reinforced panel with cracks emanating from hole

Initiation of failure by yielding and/or fracture depends on the magnitude of the distortion and dilatation of material elements. According to the strain energy density theory (SED), failure is assumed to initiate at the site of the local maximum of maxima [(dW/dV)^max_max]_L by yielding and the maximum of minima [(dW/dV)^max_min]_L by fracture. The fracture is assumed to start from point L where [(dW/dV)^max_min]_L appears and tends toward G where the global maximum of dW/dV minima appears, denoted by [(dW/dV)^max_min]_G. The distance l between L and G along the anticipated crack trajectory is an indication of failure instability of the system by fracture. If l is sufficiently large and [(dW/dV)^max_min]_L exceeds the threshold, fracture initiation could lead to global failure. The local and global failure instability of a composite structural component is studied by application of the strain energy density theory. The depicted configuration is that of a panel with a circular hole reinforced by two side strips made of different material. The case of two symmetric cracks emanating from the hole and normal to the applied uniaxial tensile stress is also analyzed. Results are displayed graphically to illustrate the geometry and dissimilar material properties influence the fracture instability behavior of the two examples.     

Failure instability of a debonded interface in the presence of a main crack

The problem of fracture initiating from an edge crack in a nonhomogeneous beam made of two dissimilar linear elastic materials that are partially bonded along a common interface is studied by the strain energy density theory. The beam is subjected to three-point bending and the unbonded part of the interface is symmetrically located with regard to the applied loading. The applied load acts on the stiffer material, while the edge crack lies in the softer material. Fracture initiation from the tip of the edge crack and global instability of the composite beam are studied by considering both the local and global stationary values of the strain energy density function, dW/dV. A length parameter l defined by the relative distance between the maximum of the local and global minima of dW/dV is determined for evaluating the stability of failure initiation by fracture. Predictions on critical loads for fracture initiation from the tip of the edge crack, crack trajectories and fracture instability are made. In the analysis the load, the length of the edge crack and the length and position of the interfacial crack remained unchanged. The influence of the ratio of the moduli of elasticity of the two materials, the position of the edge crack and the width of the stiffer material on the local and global instability of the beam was examined. A general trend is that the critical load for crack initiation and fracture instability is enhanced as the width and the modulus of elasticity of the stiffer material increase. Thus, the stiffer material acts as a barrier in load transfer.     

Enhancement of fracture toughness of steel with defects by warm-prestressing

The technique of warm-prestressing to improve the resistance of structural steel with defects against low temperature fracture has received considerable attention. It is found that warm-prestressing can improve the fracture toughness and change the COD or δ_c, especially the crack tip plastic opening δ_p.The experimental results obtained from three-point bending tests of 42Mn2 steel specimens at −60°C and −20°C are analyzed. Experiments are also made on the bursting of pressure vessels manufactured from #20 steel. The results indicate that warm-prestressing at room temperature increased the bursting pressure at −40°C for d/t = 0.2 to 0.4, where d is the depth of surface crack and t the vessel thickness.     

Kinetics of microcrack blunting ahead of macrocrack approaching shear wave speed

The fracturing of glass and tearing of rubber both involve the separation of material but their crack growth behavior can be quite different, particularly with reference to the distance of separation of the adjacent planes of material and the speed at which they separate. Relatively speaking, the former and the latter are recognized, respectively, to be fast and slow under normal conditions. Moreover, the crack tip radius of curvature in glass can be very sharp while that in the rubber can be very blunt. These changes in the geometric features of the crack or defect, however, have not been incorporated into the modeling of running cracks because the mathematical treatment makes use of the Galilean transformation where the crack opening distance or the change in the radius of curvature of the crack does not enter into the solution. Change in crack speed is accounted for only via the modulus of elasticity and mass density. For this simple reason, many of the dynamic features of the running crack have remained unexplained although speculations are not lacking. To begin with, the process of energy dissipation due to separation is affected by the microstructure of the material that distinguishes polycrystalline from amorphous form. Energy extracted from macroscopic reaches of a solid will travel to the atomic or smaller regions at different speeds at a given instance. It is not clear how many of the succeeding size scales should be included within a given time interval for an accurate prediction of the macroscopic dynamic crack characteristics. The minimum requirement would therefore necessitate the simultaneous treatment of two scales at the same time. This means that the analysis should capture the change in the macroscopic and microscopic features of a defect as it propagates. The discussion for a dual scale model has been invoked only very recently for a stationary crack. The objective of this work is to extend this effort to a crack running at constant speed beyond that of Rayleigh wave. Developed is a dual scale moving crack model containing microscopic damage ahead of a macroscopic crack with a gradual transition. This transitory region is referred to as the mesoscopic zone where the tractions prevail on the damaged portion of the material ahead of the original crack known as the restraining stresses, the magnitude of which depends on the geometry, material and loading. This damaged or restraining zone is not assumed arbitrarily nor assumed to be intrinsically a constant in the cohesive stress approach; it is determined for each step of crack advancement. For the range of micronotch bluntness with 0 < β < 30° and 0.2 σ_∞/σ₀ 0.5, there prevails a nearly constant restraining zone size as the crack approaches the shear wave speed. Note that β is the half micronotch angle and the applied stress ratio is σ_∞/σ₀ with σ₀ being the maximum of the restraining stress. For σ_∞/σ₀ equal to or less than 0.5, the macrocrack opening displacement COD is nearly constant and starts to decrease more quickly as the crack approaches the shear wave speed. For the present dual scale model where the normalized crack speed v/c_s increases with decreasing with the one-half microcrack tip angle β. There prevails a limit of crack tip bluntness that corresponds to β 36° and v/c_s 0.15. That is a crack cannot be maintained at a constant speed if the bluntness is increased beyond this limiting value. Such a feature is manifestation of the dependency of the restraining stress on crack velocity and the applied stress or the energy pumped into the system to maintain the crack at a constant velocity. More specifically, the transitory character from macro to micro is being determined as part of the unknown solution. Using the energy density function dW/dV as the indicator, plots are made in terms of the macrodistance ahead of the original crack while the microdefect bluntness can vary depending on the tip geometry. Such a generality has not been considered previously. The macro-dW/dV behavior with distance remains as the inverse r relation yielding a perfect hyperbola for the homogeneous material. This behavior is the same as the stationary crack. The micro-dW/dV relations are expressed in terms of a single undetermined parameter. Its evaluation is beyond the scope of this investigation although the qualitative behavior is expected to be similar to that for the stationary crack. To reiterate, what has been achieved as an objective is a model that accounts for the thickness of a running crack since the surface of separation representing damage at the macroscopic and microscopic scale is different. The transitory behavior from micro to macro is described by the state of affairs in the mesoscopic zone.     

Damage accumulation and crack growth in bilinear materials with softening: Application of strain energy density theory

A pseudo-elastic damage-accumulation model is developed by application of the strain energy density theory. The three-point bending specimen is analyzed to illustrate the crack growth characteristics according to a linear elastic softening constitutive law that is typical of concrete materials. Damage accumulation is accounted for by the decrease of elastic modulus and fracture toughness. Both of these effects are assessed by means of the strain energy density functions in the elements around a slowly moving crack. The rate of change of the strain energy density factor S with crack growth as expressed by the relation dS/da = constant is shown to describe the failure behavior of concrete. Results are obtained for different loading steps that yield different slopes of lines in an S versus a (crack length) plot. The lines rotate about the common intersect in an anti-clockwise direction as the load steps are increased. The intersect shifts upward according to increase in the specimen size. In this way, the combined interaction of material properties, load steps and specimen geometry and size are easily analyzed in terms of the failure mode or behavior that can change from the very brittle to the ductile involving stable crack growth. An upper limit on specimen or structural size is established beyond which stable crack growth ceases to occur and failure corresponds to unstable crack propagation or catastrophic fracture. The parameters that control the failure mode are the threshold values of the strain energy density function (dW/dV)_c and the strain energy density factor S_c.     

Fracture instability of notched cracked plates characterized by the strain energy density theory

The fracture instability of a mechanical system is analyzed by the strain energy density theory. The local relative minima of the strain energy density function dW/dV referred to local coordinate systems at each point of the body are distinguished from the global minimum of dW/dV, G, which is referred to a fixed global coordinate system. Failure by fracture starts from the maximum of the local minima of dW/dV, L, and passes from point G. The distance l between L and G along the fracture trajectory is introduced as a length parameter to characterized the fracture instability of the system. Numerical results are obtained and discussed for a cracked plate with two symmetrical notches subjected to a monotonically rising tensile stress perpendicular to the crack axis.     

Thickness reduction rate of plastically compressed metal plate by hardened rollers

The rate at which a solid deforms permanently depends on the load history, geometry and material properties. When a metal plate is compressed between two hardened rollers, its thickness reduces continuously if the material elements are deformed beyond their elastic limits. Those near the region of contact will experience more distortion as compared with those interior to the plate. This effect is analyzed incrementally in time by the theory of plasticity coupled with the strain energy density criterion. Failure is examined by assuming that the location of crack initiation coincides with the maximum of the minimum strain energy density function, (dW/dV)_min^max, when reaching its critical value. This is found to occur at the center of the plate depending on the rate of deformation. An increase in plate thickness reduction without failure can be achieved by taking smaller loading steps. Displayed graphically are numerical results for five different load histories that provide useful insights into the rate dependent process of metal forming.     

Effect of stress ratio and specimen thickness on fatigue crack growth of CK45 steel

Presented are the effect of stress ratio and thickness on the fatigue crack growth rate of CK45 steel according to DIN 17200. Test results are obtained for constant amplitude load in tension with three stress ratios of R=0, 0.2 and 0.4 and three specimen thicknesses of B=6, 12 and 24 mm. Microgauge crack opening values were used to calculate ΔK_eff values from which the da/dN − ΔK_eff curves are obtained. Crack closure can be applied to explain the influence of mean stress and specimen thickness on the fatigue crack growth rate in the second regime of the two-parameter crack growth rate relation. An empirical model is chosen for calculating the normalized load ratio parameter U as a function of R, B and ΔK and, for correlating the test data.     

Isoparametric shear spring element applied to crack patching and instability

In this work the isoparametric shear spring element is applied to the stress and energy analysis of a center-crack panel reinforced by a rectangular patch. In this model, only transverse shears are assumed to prevail in the adhesive layer. The stresses and crack-tip stress intensity factors are obtained for reinforcement on both sides and one side of the panel, and are found to be in agreement with those obtained by previous authors using the triangular shear spring element.Crack stability that tends to vary with patch thickness is determined from the local and global maximum of the minimum strain energy density function denoted, respectively, as [(dW/dV)_min^max]_L at point L and [(dW/dV)_min^max]_G at point G. The distance l between L and G gives the prospective path of subcritical crack growth and its magnitude provides a measure of the degree of crack stability. A patched panel with small l tends to be more stable than that with large l. By increasing the patch thickness beyond a certain value, l can be contained within the patch such that failure, if initiated, will be highly localized. Such a behavior is exhibited. Numerical results are provided to support the foregoing conclusion.     

Crack size and speed interaction characteristics at micro-, meso- and macro-scale

The motivation to examine physical events at even smaller size scale arises from the development of use-specific materials where information transfer from one micro- or macro-element to another could be pre-assigned. There is the growing belief that the cumulated macroscopic experiences could be related to those at the lower size scales. Otherwise, there serves little purpose to examine material behavior at the different scale levels. Size scale, however, is intimately associated with time, not to mention temperature. As the size and time scales are shifted, different physical events may be identified. Dislocations with the movements of atoms, shear and rotation of clusters of molecules with inhomogeneity of polycrystals; and yielding/fracture with bulk properties of continuum specimens. Piecemeal results at the different scale levels are vulnerable to the possibility that they may be incompatible. The attention should therefore be focused on a single formulation that has the characteristics of multiscaling in size and time. The fact that the task may be overwhelmingly difficult cannot be used as an excuse for ignoring the fundamental aspects of the problem.Local nonlinearity is smeared into a small zone ahead of the crack. A “restrain stress” is introduced to also account for cracking at the meso-scale.The major emphasis is placed on developing a model that could exhibit the evolution characteristics of change in cracking behavior due to size and speed. Material inhomogeneity is assumed to favor self-similar crack growth although this may not always be the case. For relatively high restrain stress, the possible nucleation of micro-, meso- and macro-crack can be distinguished near the crack tip region. This distinction quickly disappears after a small distance after which scaling is no longer possible. This character prevails for Mode I and II cracking at different speeds. Special efforts are made to confine discussions within the framework of assumed conditions. To be kept in mind are the words of Isaac Newton in the Fourth Regula Philosophandi:

“Men are often led into error by the love of simplicity which disposes us to reduce things to few principles, and to conceive a greater simplicity in nature than there really is … We may learn something of the way in which nature operates from fact and observation; but if we conclude that it operates in such a manner, only because to our understanding that operates to be the best and simplest manner, we shall always go wrong.”––Isaac Newton

Plane-strain crack tip field and a dual-parameter fracture-criterion for non-linear fracture mechanics

Hancock and Cowling measured the critical crack tip opening displacements, δ_f, at fracture initiation in HY-80 steel specimens of six different configurations. δ_f varied from 90 μm in a deeply double-edge-cracked tensile panel to 900 μm in a single-edge-cracked tensile panel.McMeeking and Parks, and Shih and German have shown by their finite element calculations that the characteristics of the plane strain crack tip fields in both large scale yielding and general yielding are strongly dependent on specimen geometry and load level.In this study, the plane strain crack tip fields in the specimens tested by Hancock and Cowling were calculated using the finite element method. The crack tip triaxial tensile stress field is strongly affected by specimen geometric constraint, and the state of the triaxial tensile stress in a crack tip region is monitored by the ratio between the local tensile stress and the effective stress, i.e., ( ), at a distance x=2δ from the crack tip. The values of ( ) vary from 3.1 for the double-edge-cracked tensile panel to 1.7 for the single-edge-cracked tensile panel. The δ_f measured by Hancock and Cowling correlates very well with the ratio ( ). δ_f is a measure of the fracture ductility of the material ahead of the crack tip, and the ductility decreases with an increase in the triaxial tensile stress, i.e., the ratio ( ).     

A comparative study of crack propagation models for PMMA and PVC

An analysis of examining the validity of a unified approach proposed earlier by the authors for the fatigue crack propagation (FCP) of engineering materials to include PMMA and PVC is described. The proposed formulation has been shown capable of characterizing a diversified range of materials with a master FCP diagram and expressed as da/dN = A(ΔG)^m/(G_c − G_max).An experimental program is undertaken to measure fatigue growth rate with the standard compact tension specimen. The FCP results are for the first instance analysed for each material using the unified formulation. The validity of the formulation for producing a master FCP diagram is verified when the fatigue crack growth rates of the materials are successfully characterized in one master diagram, yielding an excellent coefficient of correlation of 0.993. No such success is attained using a number of conventional FCP laws considered most acceptable to characterize polymeric materials.     

Initiation and arrest of cracks on two pipeline steels at low temperature

Dynamic fracture toughness at initiationK _1d and fracture toughness at arrestK _1a were measured on two pipeline steel grades. Dynamic fracture toughness was measured at a very high loading rate with the help of split Hopkinson pressure bars. The values ofK _1d andK _1a are compared. The purpose of this work is to examine the possibilities of using dynamic fracture toughness at crack initiation as a lower bound of crack arrest toughness. This work has practical applications because crack arrest tests are difficult to perform, give scattered results and are costly and time consuming. This procedure shows that it is possible to economize and rationalize using intelligent technology.     

Thermal-stress induced phenomena in two-component material： part I

The paper deals with analytical fracture mechanics to consider elastic thermal stresses acting in an isotropic multi-particle-matrix system. The multi-particle-matrix system consists of periodically distributed spherical particles in an infinite matrix. The thermal stresses originate during a cooling process as a consequence of the difference αm - αp in thermal expansion coefficients between the matrix and the particle, αm and αp, respectively. The multi-particle-matrix system thus represents a model system applicable to a real two-component material of a precipitation-matrix type. The infinite matrix is imaginarily divided into identical cubic cells. Each of the cubic cells with the dimension d contains a central spherical particle with the radius R, where d thus corresponds to inter-particle distance. The parameters R, d along with the particle volume fraction v = v（R, d） as a function of R, d represent microstructural characteristics of a twocomponent material. The thermal stresses are investigated within the cubic cell, and accordingly are functions of the microstructural characteristics. The analytical fracture mechanics includes an analytical analysis of the crack initiation and consequently the crack propagation both considered for the spherical particle （q = p） and the cell matrix （q = m）. The analytical analysis is based on the determination of the curve integral Wcq of the thermal-stress induced elastic energy density Wq. The crack initiation is represented by the determination of the critical particle radius Rqc = Rqc（V）. Formulae for Rqc are valid for any two-component mate- rial of a precipitate-matrix type. The crack propagation for R 〉 Rqc is represented by the determination of the function fq describing a shape of the crack in a plane perpendicular     

Effect of material nonhomogeneities on the HRR dominance

This work studies the asymptotic stress and displacement fields near the tip of a stationary crack in an elastic–plastic nonhomogeneous material with the emphasis on the effect of material nonhomogeneities on the dominance of the crack tip field. While the HRR singular field still prevails near the crack tip if the material properties are continuous and piecewise continuously differentiable, a simple asymptotic analysis shows that the size of the HRR dominance zone decreases with increasing magnitude of material property gradients. The HRR field dominates at points that satisfy |α⁻¹ ∂α/∂x_δ|1/r, |α⁻¹ ∂²α/(∂x_δ ∂x_γ)|1/r², |n⁻¹ ∂n/∂x_δ|1/[r|ln(r/A)|] and |n⁻¹ ∂²n/(∂x_δ ∂x_γ)|1/[r²|ln(r/A)|], in addition to other general requirements for asymptotic solutions, where α is a material property in the Ramberg–Osgood model, n is the strain hardening exponent, r is the distance from the crack tip, x_δ are Cartesian coordinates, and A is a length parameter. For linear hardening materials, the crack tip field dominates at points that satisfy |E_tan⁻¹ ∂E_tan/∂x_δ|1/r, |E_tan⁻¹ ∂²E_tan/(∂x_δ ∂x_γ)|1/r², |E⁻¹ ∂E/∂x_δ|1/r, and |E⁻¹ ∂²E/(∂x_δ ∂x_γ)|1/r², where E_tan is the tangent modulus and E is Young’s modulus.     

Crack front curvature effect on stress intensity factor of through and part-through thickness cracks

The character of the local stresses and displacements are determined for a through crack with finite radius of curvature in a finite thickness plate. Numerical results obtained from the boundary element method show that the solutions are sufficiently accurate for /a ≤ 0.03 and 0.03 ≤ /a ≤ 0.1, where and a represent, respectively, the crack front radius of curvature and crack dimension such that a is the width of a through thickness crack and the depth of a part-through crack. For /a ≤ 0.1, the asymptotic singular stress field dominates such that the Mode I stress intensity factor K₁ can be evaluated. As the crack border radius of curvature is increased for /a ≥ 0.1, the non-singular terms become significant such that K_I would no longer dominate. Other failure criteria would have to be invoked to address fracture initiation.     

Prediction of thermally induced fracture from notch and crack front

The strain energy density criterion is applied to predict fracture trajectories emanating from existing notch and crack front in nonisothermal environments. When temperature gradients are raised sufficiently high across a notch or crack, the resulting fracture trajectories are non-self-similar and curved in shape. Influence of mechanical loading is also considered in addition to stresses induced by thermal changes. Increase in the applied mechanical load tends to shift or restore the fracture trajectories toward the plane of notch or crack symmetry. The notch sharpness can be varied by adjusting the ration of the minor to major axes of an elliptical cavity. Narrowing the notch primarily increases the local intensity of the strain energy density function dW/dV that is inversely proportional to the radial distance measured from the focal point of the ellipse. This singular character of dW/dV prevails, in general, for all materials and loadings. Numerical results are obtained and displayed graphically for several examples involving fracture trajectory shapes that are not intuitively obvious.