Influence of cyclic loading on crack growth kinetics in a viscoelastic orthotropic plate made of a composite material

The kinetics of crack growth in a viscoelastic orthotropic plate made of a composite material is analyzed. The external load is the superposition of a cyclic load and a constant tensile load. The level of the tensile load is assumed to exceed the amplitude of the cyclic load. The kinetic curves are compared with the constant tension curves. The effect of the cyclic component is studied.Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 40, No. 9, pp. 116–122, September 2004.     

Microstructure morphology transitions at mesoscopic epitaxial surfaces

Spiral surface growth is well understood in the limit where motion of the spiral ridge is controlled by the local supersaturation of adatoms in its surrounding. In liquid epitaxial growth, however, spirals can form governed by both, transport of heat as well as solute. We propose for the first time a two-scale model of epitaxial growth which takes into account all of these transport processes. This new model assumes a separation of length scales for the transport of heat compared to that of the solutal field. It allows for the first time numerical simulations of extended surface regions by at the same time taking into account microstructure evolution and microstructure interaction. We apply this model successfully to extend the scaling relation for the step spacing given by the BCF theory [Phil. Trans. R. Soc. London, Ser. A 243, 299 (1951)] to microstructure evolution governed by heat and solute diffusion. Further applications to understand the mechanisms and consequences of spiral interaction at epitaxial surfaces, in particular the resulting morphology transitions, are discussed.     

A nonlinear finite element model for the stress analysis of soft solids with a growing mass

The paper presents a new finite element (FE) model for the stress analysis of soft solids with a growing mass based on the work of Lubarda and Hoger (2002). Contrary to the traditional numerical methods emphasizing on the influence of growth on constitutive equations, an equivalent body force is firstly detected, which is resulted from the linearization of the nonlinear equation and acts as the driver for material growth in the numerical aspect. In the algorithm, only minor correction on the traditional tangent modulus is needed to take the growth effects into consideration and its objectivity could be guaranteed comparing with the traditional method. To solve the resulted equation in time domain, both explicit and implicit integration algorithms are developed, where the growth tensor is updated as an internal variable of Gauss point. The explicit updating scheme shows higher efficiency, while the implicit one seems to be more robust and accurate. The algorithm validation and its good performance are demonstrated by several two-dimensional examples, including free growth, constrained growth and stress dependent growth.     

Influence of heat transfer and fluid flow on crack growth in multilayered porous/dense materials using XFEM: Application to Solid Oxide Fuel Cell like material design

An advanced numerical model is developed to investigate the influence of heat transfer and fluid flow on crack propagation in multi-layered porous materials. The fluid flow, governed by the Navier–Stokes and Darcy’s law, is discretized with the nonconforming Crouzeix–Raviart (CR) finite element method. A combination of Discontinuous Galerkin (DG) and Multi-Point Flux Approximation (MPFA) methods is used to solve the advection–diffusion heat transfer equation in the flow channel and in the fluid phase within the porous material. The crack is assumed to affect only the heat diffusion within the porous layer, therefore a time splitting technique is used to solve the heat transfer in the fluid and the solid phases separately. Thus, within the porous material, the crack induces a discontinuity of the temperature at the crack surfaces and a singularity of the flux at the crack tip. Conduction in the solid phase is solved using the eXtended Finite Element Method (XFEM) to better handle the discontinuities and singularities caused by the cracks. The XFEM is also used to solve the thermo-mechanical problem and to track the crack propagation. The multi-physics model is implemented then validated for the transient regime, this necessitated a post processing treatment in which, the stress intensity factors (SIF) are computed for each time step. The SIFs are then used in the crack propagation criterion and the crack orientation angle. The methodology seems to be robust accurate and the computational cost is reduced thanks to the XFEM.     

DYNAMICAL FORMATION OF CAVITY FOR COMPOSED THERMAL HYPERELASTIC SPHERES IN NONUNIFORM TEMPERATURE FIELDS

Dynamical formation and growth of cavity in a sphere composed of two incompressible thermal-hyperelastic Gent-Thomas materials were discussed under the case of a non-uniform temperature field and the surface dead loading. The mathematical model was first presented based on the dynamical theory of finite deformations. An exact differential relation between the void radius and surface load was obtained by using the variable transformation method. By numerical computation, critical loads and cavitation growth curves were obtained for different temperatures. The influence of the temperature and material parameters of the composed sphere on the void formation and growth was considered and compared with those for static analysis. The results show that the cavity occurs suddenly with a finite radius and its evolvement with time displays a non-linear periodic vibration and that the critical load decreases with the increase of temperature and also the dynamical critical load is lower than the static critical load under the same conditions.     

One, no one, and one hundred thousand crack propagation laws: A generalized Barenblatt and Botvina dimensional analysis approach to fatigue crack growth

Barenblatt and Botvina with elegant dimensional analysis arguments have elucidated that Paris’ power-law is a weak form of scaling, so that the Paris’ parameters C and m should not be taken as material constants. On the contrary, they are expected to depend on all the dimensionless parameters of the problem, and are really “constants” only within some specific ranges of all these. In the present paper, the dimensional analysis approach by Barenblatt and Botvina is generalized to explore the functional dependencies of m and C on more dimensionless parameters than the original Barenblatt and Botvina, and experimental results are interpreted for a wider range of materials including both metals and concrete. In particular, we find that the size-scale dependencies of m and C and the resulting correlation between C and m are quite different for metals and for quasi-brittle materials, as it is already suggested from the fact the fatigue crack propagation processes lead to m=2-5 in metals and m=10-50 in quasi-brittle materials. Therefore, according to the concepts of complete and incomplete self-similarities, the experimentally observed breakdowns of the classical Paris’ law are discussed and interpreted within a unified theoretical framework. Finally, we show that most attempts to address the deviations from the Paris’ law or the empirical correlations between the constants can be explained with this approach. We also suggest that “incomplete similarity” corresponds to the difficulties encountered so far by the “damage tolerant” approach which, after nearly 50 years since the introduction of Paris’ law, is still not a reliable calculation of damage, as Paris himself admits in a recent review.     

-196 ℃奥氏体不锈钢母材与焊缝的动态断裂韧性

在-196 ℃对S30408奥氏体不锈钢的母材和焊缝进行了夏比摆锤冲击实验,采用改进的柔度变化率法得到了低温下不锈钢母材夏比试样的起裂点。结果表明,采用改进的柔度变化率法得到的结果比采用传统的柔度变化率法得到的结果更准确。根据实验得到的载荷-位移曲线,结合采用Schindler法和关键曲线法各自所得结果的优点,得到了不锈钢母材的动态裂纹扩展阻力曲线（动态J-R曲线）。依据不锈钢焊缝在低温动载下的载荷-位移曲线及其断裂特征,通过线弹性断裂力学计算获得其动态断裂韧性。     

生长对超弹性球壳变形和稳定性的影响

应用连续介质力学有限变形理论建立受内压作用不可压超弹性球壳大变形问题的力学模型, 且运用基于变形梯度张量极分解的弹性体积生长理论分析生长对不可压超弹性球壳变形和稳定性的影响. 通过对球壳变形与内压关系式的数值计算得到不同生长条件下球壳的变形曲线和应力分布曲线及由生长引起的残余变形和残余应力分布. 计算结果表明生长对球壳变形特性有明显的影响, 生长影响球壳可产生不稳定变形的临界壁厚和临界内压, 且在某些情况下可改变球壳的稳定性. 生长在球壳中可产生一定的残余变形和残余应力, 对球壳中的应力分布有一定的影响. 另外当生长的程度足够大时, 即便没有外力作用,球壳仅在生长引起的残余应力作用下也可产生不稳定变形.      

Cavity nucleation, growth and stress field in elastic-plastic medium

A finite element method is used to study the cavity nucleation and growth in an elastic-plastic medium. The critical cohesion strength, _c at IPM (interface between second phase particle and matrix) is employed as the criterion of cavity formation. Three different values of _c are taken to examine their influence on the overall mechanical behaviour and process of cavity formation.