Mode I and mixed mode crack-tip fields in strain gradient plasticity

Strain gradients develop near the crack-tip of Mode I or mixed mode cracks. A finite strain version of the phenomenological strain gradient plasticity theory of Fleck-Hutchinson (2001) is used here to quantify the effect of the material length scales on the crack-tip stress field for a sharp stationary crack under Mode I and mixed mode loading. It is found that for material length scales much smaller than the scale of the deformation gradients, the predictions converge to conventional elastic-plastic solutions. For length scales sufficiently large, the predictions converge to elastic solutions. Thus, the range of length scales over which a strain gradient plasticity model is necessary is identified. The role of each of the three material length scales, incorporated in the multiple length scale theory, in altering the near-tip stress field is systematically studied in order to quantify their effect.