Quasicontinuum simulation of single crystal nano-plate with a mixed-mode crack

The quasicontinuum (QC) method is employed to simulate a nickel single crystal nano-plate with a mixed-mode crack. Atomic stresses near the crack tip are fitted according to the elastoplastic fracture mechanics equations. It is found that the atomic stress fields neighboring the crack tip are also singular and controlled by the atomic stress intensity factors. And then the critical energy release rates for brittle and ductile fracture are computed and compared in order to predict crack propagation or dislocation emission. Four possible slip directions at the crack tip are pointed out. Finally, the slip direction around the crack tip is determined by the shear stress and it is well consistent with the atomic pictures from the QC simulation.     

Local stresses and strains in axially cracked cylindrical shells

A perturbation solution is obtained for the local stress-strain fields in an axially cracked cylindrical shell. The tenth-order differential equations are used that take into account the transverse shear deformation. The perturbation of a curvature parameter, λ, is employed, where . The stress intensity factors for finite size cylindrical shells subjected to bending and internal pressure are evaluated. Sufficient accuracy can be obtained without using fine mesh sizes in regions near the crack tip. Also analyzed are the influence of cylinder diameter and shearing stiffness on bulging.     

Effects of partial crack–face contact for the bending of thin shell structures

The physical occurrence that crack surfaces are in contact at the compressive edges when a flat or a shell is subjected to a bending load has been recognized. This article presents a theoretical analysis of crack–face contact effect on the stress intensity factor of various shell structures such as spherical shell, cylindrical shell containing an axial crack, cylindrical shell containing a circumferential crack and shell with two non-zero curvatures, under a bending load. The formulation of the problem is based on the shear deformation theory, incorporating crack–face contact by introducing distributed force at the compressive edge. Material orthotropy is concerned in this analysis. Three-dimensional finite element analysis (FEA) is conduced to compare with the theoretical solution. It is found that due to curvature effect crack–face contact behavior in shells differs from that in flat plates, in that partial contact of crack surfaces may occur in shells, depending on the shell curvature and the nature of the bending load. Crack–face contact has significant influence on the stress intensity factor and it increases the membrane component but decreases the bending component.     

Torsional impact response of a penny-shaped crack in a functional graded strip

The torsional impact response of a penny-shaped crack in a nonhomogeneous strip is considered. The shear modulus is assumed to be functionally graded such that the mathematics is tractable. Laplace and Hankel transforms were used to reduce the problem to solving a Fredholm integral equation. The crack tip stress field is obtained by considering the asymptotic behavior of Bessel function. Explicit expressions of both the dynamic stress intensity factor and the energy density factor were derived. And it is shown that, as crack driving force, they are equivalent for the present crack problem. Investigated are the effects of material nonhomogeneity and strip‘s highness on the dynamic fracture behavior.Numerical results reveal that the peak of the dynamic stress intensity factor can be suppressed by increasing the nonhomogeneity parameter of the shear modulus, and that the dynamic behavior varies little with the adjusting of the strip‘ s highness.     

Mechanics and fracture of crack tip deformable bi-material interface

Novel interface deformable bi-layer beam theory is developed to account for local effects at crack tip of bi-material interface by modeling a bi-layer composite beam as two separate shear deformable sub-layers with consideration of crack tip deformation. Unlike the sub-layer model in the literature in which the crack tip deformations under the interface peel and shear stresses are ignored and thus a “rigid” joint is used, the present study introduces two interface compliances to account for the effect of interface stresses on the crack tip deformation which is referred to as the elastic foundation effect; thus a flexible condition along the interface is considered. Closed-form solutions of resultant forces, deformations, and interface stresses are obtained for each sub-layer in the bi-layer beam, of which the local effects at the crack tip are demonstrated. In this study, an elastic deformable crack tip model is presented for the first time which can improve the split beam solution. The present model is in excellent agreements with analytical 2-D continuum solutions and finite element analyses. The resulting crack tip rotation is then used to calculate the energy release rate (ERR) and stress intensity factor (SIF) of interface fracture in bi-layer materials. Explicit closed-form solutions for ERR and SIF are obtained for which both the transverse shear and crack tip deformation effects are accounted. Compared to the full continuum elasticity analysis, such as finite element analysis, the present solutions are much explicit, more applicable, while comparable in accuracy. Further, the concept of deformable crack tip model can be applied to other bi-layer beam analyses (e.g., delamination buckling and vibration, etc.).     

The singular elastostatic field due to a crack in rubberlike materials

Within the framework of finite-strain elastostatics an asymptotic analysis is carried out in order to calculate the singular field near the crack tip in a slab under conditions of plane deformation. A class of Ogden-Ball hyperelastic rubberlike materials and general loading conditions ensuring vanishing tractions on the crack faces near the crack tip are considered. It is shown that the singular deformation field near the crack tip can be specified by applying a rigid body rotation with a subsequent parallel translation to a so-called canonical field. The adjective canonical is adopted here to denote the field with symmetrically opening crack faces, just resembling the displacement field of the symmetric mode in linear elastic fracture mechanics. No analogy with the antisymmetric mode is possible, and the crack equilibrium criterion requires only one stress intensity factor to be determined.     

Crack solutions and weight functions for plane problems in three-dimensional quasicrystals

The plane problems of an elliptic hole and a crack in three-dimensional quasicrystals subject to far-field loadings are studied. The generalized Stroh formalism is adopted here, and the explicit solutions for the coupled fields are obtained in the closed form. When the elliptic hole reduces to a crack, the analytical expressions for both the entire fields and the asymptotic fields near the crack tip are determined. The crack theory of quasicrystals, including the determination of the field intensity factors, crack opening displacements, crack tip energy release rates and so on, is a prerequisite. Applying Betti’s theorem of reciprocity, the weight functions for a quasicrystal body with a crack are derived. The weight functions provide a means of calculating the intensity factors for the crack when both phonon and phason point forces are imposed at arbitrary locations.     

Mode I and mode II crack tip asymptotic fields with strain gradient effects

The strain gradient effect becomes significant when the size of fracture process zone around a crack tip is comparable to the intrinsic material lengthl, typically of the order of microns. Using the new strain gradient deformation theory given by Chen and Wang, the asymptotic fields near a crack tip in an elastic-plastic material with strain gradient effects are investigated. It is established that the dominant strain field is irrotational. For mode I plane stress crack tip asymptotic field, the stress asymptotic field and the couple stress asymptotic field can not exist simultaneously. In the stress dominated asymptotic field, the angular distributions of stresses are consistent with the classical plane stress HRR field; In the couple stress dominated asymptotic field, the angular distributions of couple stresses are consistent with that obtained by Huang et al. For mode II plane stress and plane strain crack tip asymptotic fields, only the stress-dominated asymptotic fields exist. The couple stress asymptotic field is less singular than the stress asymptotic fields. The stress asymptotic fields are the same as mode II plane stress and plane strain HRR fields, respectively. The increase in stresses is not observed in strain gradient plasticity for mode I and mode II, because the present theory is based only on the rotational gradient of deformation and the crack tip asymptotic fields are irrotational and dominated by the stretching gradient. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (19704100), National Natural Science Foundation of Chinese Academy of Sciences (KJ951-1-20), CAS K.C. Wong Post-doctoral Research Award Fund and Post-doctoral Science Fund of China     

Analysis of dynamic growth of a tensile crack in an elastic-plastic material

The influence of inertia on the stress and deformation fields near the tip of a crack growing in an elastic-plastic material is studied. The material is characterized by the von Mises yield criterion and J₂ flow theory of plasticity. The crack grows steadily under plane strain conditions in the tensile opening mode. Features of the stress and deformation state at points near the moving crack tip are described for elastic-perfectly plastic response and for several crack propagation speeds. It is found that inertia has a significant effect on the elastic-plastic response of material particles near the crack tip, and that elastic unloading may occur behind the crack tip for higher speeds. The relationship between the applied crack driving force, represented by a remote stress intensity factor, and the crack tip speed is examined on the basis of a critical crack tip opening angle growth criterion. The calculated result is compared with dynamic fracture toughness versus crack speed data for a 4340 steel.     

Mathematical model of micropolar elastic thin plates and their strength and stiffness characteristics

A number of hypotheses were formulated using the properties of an asymptotic solution of boundary-value problems of the three-dimensional micropolar (moment asymmetric) theory of elasticity for areas with one geometrical parameter being substantially smaller than the other two (plates and shells). A general theory of bending deformation of micropolar elastic thin plates with independent fields of displacements and rotations is constructed. In the constructed model of a micropolar elastic plate, transverse shear strains are fully taken into account. A problem of determining the stress-strain state in bending deformation of micropolar elastic thin rectangular plates is considered. The numerical analysis reveals that plates made of a micropolar elastic material have high strength and stiffness characteristics.     

On the effects of characteristic lengths in bending and torsion on Mode III crack in couple stress elasticity

The problem of a stationary semi-infinite crack in an elastic solid with microstructures subject to remote classical K_III field is investigated in the present work. The material behavior is described by the indeterminate theory of couple stress elasticity developed by Koiter. This constitutive model includes the characteristic lengths in bending and torsion and thus it is able to account for the underlying microstructure of the material as well as for the strong size effects arising at small scales. The stress and displacement fields turn out to be strongly influenced by the ratio between the characteristic lengths. Moreover, the symmetric stress field turns out to be finite at the crack tip, whereas the skew-symmetric stress field displays a strong singularity. Ahead of the crack tip within a zone smaller than the characteristic length in torsion, the total shear stress and reduced tractions occur with the opposite sign with respect to the classical LEFM solution, due to the relative rotation of the microstructural particles currently at the crack tip. The asymptotic fields dominate within this zone, which however has limited physical relevance and becomes vanishing small for a characteristic length in torsion of zero. In this limiting case the full-field solution recovers the classical K_III field with square-root stress singularity. Outside the zone where the total shear stress is negative, the full-field solution exhibits a bounded maximum for the total shear stress ahead of the crack tip, whose magnitude can be adopted as a measure of the critical stress level for crack advancing. The corresponding fracture criterion defines a critical stress intensity factor, which increases with the characteristic length in torsion. Moreover, the occurrence of a sharp crack profile denotes that the crack becomes stiffer with respect to the classical elastic response, thus revealing that the presence of microstructures may shield the crack tip from fracture.     

损伤材料裂纹尖端附近的应力场

本文导出了损伤材料的全量理论,导出了全量公式中H的渐近表达式;最后得到损伤材料平面应变条件下的裂纹尖端的应力应变场。     

Stress field of a damaged material near the crack tip

In this paper, a deformation theory of plasticity for damaged materials is proposed. An asymptotic expression forH near a crack tip is obtained. Finally, the stress and strain fields near the crack tip are presented.     

LC4—M材料复合型韧断主要影响因素的分析

通过分析LC4－M铝合金材料在不同复合比载荷下的断裂试验结果,参照常规断裂现象,修正了一般断裂试验中认定裂纹启裂方向的方法,结合不同复合比下裂尖附近应力三维、主应力方向的计算分析,得到：在裂端的钝化变形区域、应力三维度的极大值处,对应于裂纹的启裂位置,即使在高韧性材料中发生剪切断裂的情况下也是如此;裂纹的启裂方向在拉伸断裂时与启裂点最大拉应力方向有关,在剪切断裂时启裂点最大剪应力方向有关,引起两种形式断裂的主要因数和破坏机理有很大不同。     

Higher order fields for damaged nonlinear antiplane shear notch, crack and inclusion problems

Damaged nonlinear antiplane shear problems with a variety of singularities are studied analytically. A deformation plasticity theory coupled with damage is employed in analysis. The effect of microscopic damage is considered in terms of continuum damage mechanics approach. An exact solution for the general damaged nonlinear singular antiplane shear problem is derived in the stress plane by means of a hodograph transformation, then corresponding higher order asymptotic solutions are obtained by reversing the stress plane solution to the physical plane. As example, traction free sharp notch and crack, rigid sharp wedge and flat inclusion, and mixed boundary sharp notch problems are investigated, respectively. Consequently, higher order fields are obtained, in which analytical expressions of the dominant and second order singularity exponents and angular distribution functions of the near tip fields are derived. Effects of the damage and hardening exponents of materials and the geometric angle of notch/wedge on the near tip quantities are discussed in detail. It is found that damage leads to a weaker dominant singularity of stress, but to little stronger singularities of the dominant and second order terms of strain compared to that for undamaged material. It is also seen that damage has important effect on the angular distribution functions of the near tip stress and strain fields. As special cases, higher order analytical solutions of the crack and rigid flat inclusion tip fields are obtained, respectively, by reducing the notch/wedge tip solutions. Effects of damage and hardening exponents on the dominant and second order terms in the solutions of the crack and inclusion tip fields are discussed.     

Stress and energy density fields near a blunted crack front in power hardening material

Using Jaumann and Dienes rates of Euler stress in elastic-plastic constitutive equations of finite deformation, plane strain finite element analysis for a compact tension specimen with a blunted crack front is made. The Euler stress, Kirchhoff stress and volume strain energy density near a blunted crack tip are computed. Constitutive relations with different deformation rates affect the the near crack tip solution in a region within an order of magnitude of the crack opening displacement. The results differed from the corresponding solution of deformation plasticity (or nonlinear elasticity) with increasing deformation. They are smaller in a local region of about 2 to 10 times of the crack opening distance.The volume energy density near the crack tip is computed, the stationary values of which determine the locations of extensive yielding and possible sites of crack initiation. It remained nearly constant with increasing deformation. Such a character tends to support the volume energy density criterion as a means for quantifying the ductile fracture behavior of metals.     

Experimental and numerical investigation of a cracked transversely graded plate subjected to in plane bending

The variation of stress intensity factor along the thickness in a cracked transversely graded plate subjected to in plane bending is investigated in this study. A transversely graded plate having elastic modulus varying continuously along the thickness was prepared by embedding glass beads in epoxy resin. An edge crack in this plate was subjected to in plane bending and the crack tip displacement field on the surfaces of the plate was measured using digital image correlation (DIC). Using the recently reported asymptotic displacement fields for cracked transversely graded plates (Wadgaonkar, S.C., Parameswaran, V., 2009. Structure of near tip stress field and variation of stress intensity factor for a crack in a transversely graded material, Journal of Applied Mechanics 76 (1), 011014), the stress intensity factor (SIF) on the surfaces of the plate was calculated from the experimental data. The results of this part of the study indicated that the extent of variation of the SIF across the plate thickness is nearly the same as that of the elastic modulus. An expression to calculate the variation of the SIF through the plate thickness was developed assuming simple bending of the plate. The predicted variation of SIF was verified through finite element calculations. Further, the behavior of the SIF near the intersection of the crack front and the plate surfaces, the extent of dominance of the corner singular field and the exponent of the corner singularity were also investigated in detail. Finally, the effect of gradation strength and gradation type on the SIF was also studied.     

An analysis on three-dimensional effects near the tip of a crack in an elastic plate

An infinite plate containing a finite through crack under tensile loading is analysed by Fourier transform based on the Kane-Mindlin kinematic assumptions for the quasi-three-dimensional deformation of plates in extension. The asymptotic expressions of stress and displacement fields near the crack tip, the variation of the stress intensity factor with the plate-thickness and the three-dimensional deformation zone near the crack tip are investigated. The results of the analysis show that, (a) the crack-tip stress and displacement fields accounting for the plate-thickness effects are different from the plane stress solutions and this is true even for extremely small parameter (=1–vh/6 a). In a very small region near the crack tip, plane strain solutions prevail; (b) the ratio of the stress intensity factor K_I to the corresponding plane stress one K_I, K_I/K _I ^o , approaches 1/(1–v²) as tends to zero; (c) plane stress solutions can give satisfactory results for points a distance from the crack tip greater than about three-fourths of the plate-thickness; (d) the linear elastic result for the zone of three-dimensional effects is approximately valid for an elasto-plastic material with linear strain-hardening when the plastic tangential mudulus E_t is not very small.The Project Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China.     

The damage tolerance of elastic-brittle, two-dimensional isotropic lattices

The fracture toughness of elastic-brittle 2D lattices is determined by the finite element method for three isotropic periodic topologies: the regular hexagonal honeycomb, the Kagome lattice and the regular triangular honeycomb. The dependence of mode I and mode II fracture toughness upon relative density is determined for each lattice, and the fracture envelope is obtained in combined mode I-mode II stress intensity factor space. Analytical estimates are also made for the dependence of mode I and mode II toughness upon relative density. The high nodal connectivity of the triangular grid ensures that it deforms predominantly by stretching of the constituent bars, while the hexagonal honeycomb deforms by bar bending. The Kagome microstructure deforms by bar stretching remote from the crack tip, and by a combination of bar bending and bar stretching within a characteristic elastic deformation zone near the crack tip. This elastic zone reduces the stress concentration at the crack tip in the Kagome lattice and leads to an elevated macroscopic toughness.Predictions are given for the tensile and shear strengths of a centre-cracked panel with microstructure given explicitly by each of the three topologies. The hexagonal and triangular honeycombs are flaw-sensitive, with a strength adequately predicted by linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) for cracks spanning more than a few cells. In contrast, the Kagome microstructure is damage tolerant, and for cracks shorter than a transition length its tensile strength and shear strength are independent of crack length but are somewhat below the unnotched strength. At crack lengths exceeding the transition value, the strength decreases with increasing crack length in accordance with the LEFM estimate. This transition crack length scales with the parameter of bar length divided by relative density of the Kagome grid, and can be an order of magnitude greater than the cell size at low relative densities. Finally, the presence of a boundary layer is noted at the free edge of a crack-free Kagome grid loaded in tension and in shear. Deformation within this boundary layer is by a combination of bar bending and stretching whereas remote from the free edge the Kagome grid deforms by bar stretching (with a negligible contribution from bar bending). The edge boundary layer degrades both the macroscopic stiffness and strength of the Kagome plate. No such boundary layer is evident for the hexagonal and triangular honeycombs.     

The effect of crack orientation on fracture behavior of tantalum by multiscale simulation

The quasicontinuum (QC) multiscale method is used to investigate anisotropic fracture behaviors of body-centered cubic (BCC) rare metal tantalum (Ta) loaded in Mode I and different fracture mechanisms are discussed from nanoscopic to continuum perspectives to have a deep understanding of brittle and ductile fracture. Initial crack deflection, brittle fracture by cleaving along low surface energy plane, ductile fracture as a result of dislocation emission and fracture accompanied by deformation twinning are all observed near crack tips of different crystal orientations. Particularly, some of these fracture mechanisms are found to be consistent with the latest experimental results. By examining different fracture behaviors, we find the surface energy and the available slip planes play a combined role in determining the fracture mechanisms near a crack tip. Both isotropic and anisotropic critical stress intensity factors are derived and compared for different crack orientations. A straightforward criterion that is proved to be applicable is used to distinguish brittle fracture from ductile fracture.