A cyclic steady-state method for fatigue crack propagation: Evaluation of plasticity-induced crack closure in 3D

The numerical study of plasticity-induced crack closure using the node-release technique presents many difficulties widely studied in literature. For instance various rules, proposed for overcoming mesh sensitivity, are challenged by more recent studies. This paper intends to propose and evaluate a numerical method for the investigation of crack propagation under fatigue loading, and particularly for the assessment of plasticity-induced crack closure in three-dimension. The method is an extension of the “steady-state method” to cyclic loadings. The steady-state method allows a direct computation (on a fixed mesh, without releasing nodes) of stress and strain fields around the crack tip and in the wake for a steady crack growth. The method is extended to simulate crack propagation under fatigue loading. Therefore it constitutes a valuable numerical tool for gaining insight into the physics of crack propagation, as it provides accurate mechanical fields around the crack tip and their relation with crack growth rate, various loading modes and parameters. The proposed method is also compared with the classical node-release technique. A very good agreement between the two methods is found. However the steady-state method needs much less mesh refinement and computational time. Following an analysis of some features of the fatigue crack, a discussion on a crack closure criterion is opened, and a reliable criterion for the determination of local crack closure is proposed.     

温度对金属材料钼位错发射的影响

应用关联参照模型、随位错位置变化的柔性位移边界条件和三维分子动力学方法研究了体心立方（ＢＣＣ）金属晶体钼在不同温度下裂尖发射位错的力学行为，随着温度的提高，不但发射位错的临界应力强度因子下降而且在同一应 度因子条件下，发射位错的数量出增加，位错速度和不全位错之间的扩展距离对温度不敏感，在位错发射过程中，发现了稳定的和不稳定的两个变形状态，在稳定的有状态，位错发射后，塞积在远离裂纹尖端处；必须增加外     

Analytic solutions to crack tip plastic zone under various loading conditions

Based on stress field equations and Hill yield criterion, the crack tip plastic zone is determined for orthotropic materials and isotropic materials under small-scale yielding condition. An analytical solution to calculating the crack tip plastic zone in plane stress states is presented. The shape and size of the plastic zone are analyzed under different loading conditions. The obtained results show that the crack tip plastic zones present “butterfly-like” shapes, and the elastic–plastic boundary is smooth. The size of the plastic zone for orthotropic composites is less at the crack tip for various loading conditions, compared with the case of isotropic materials. Crack inclination angle and loading conditions affect greatly the size and shape of crack tip plastic zone. The mode I crack has a crucial effect on the plastic zone for mixed mode case in plane stress state. The plastic zone for pure mode I crack and pure mode II crack have a symmetrical distribution to the initial crack plane.     

复合型韧性断裂实验和控制参数

通过对不同韧性材料在各种平面复合载荷形式下裂纹启裂阶段裂端变形、启裂位置和扩展方向的系统的宏微观实验验证及计算分析,考察了韧性断裂参数空穴扩张比的分布特征和裂纹启裂及扩展方向的关系．得到：对于不同韧性的材料,在裂端的钝化变形区域,空穴扩张比的极大值区对应干裂纹的启裂位置,裂纹启裂时钝化裂端前缘空穴扩张比的临界值不敏感于复合比的变化．而对于裂纹启裂后的扩展方向,则需根据具体材料在相应的特定区域中比较空穴扩张比参数极大值的分布特征,需经进一步的分析,从而确定裂纹的扩展方向．实验及计算结果表明,尽管复合型断裂时裂纹启裂及扩展的机理极其复杂,用于韧性材料复合型断裂的空穴扩张比参数仍能很好地预测裂端的启裂及扩展方向,可作为复合型韧性断裂过程的控制参数．     

Effect of temperature on dislocation emission from crack tip for BCC metal Mo

The effect of thermally activated energy on the dislocation emission from a crack tip in BCC metal Mo is simulated in this paper. Based on the correlative reference model on which the flexible displacement boundary scheme is introduced naturally, the simulation shows that as temperature increases the critical stress intensity factor for the first dislocation emission will decrease and the total number of emitted dislocations increase for the same external load. The dislocation velocity and extensive distance among partial dislocations are not sensitive to temperature. After a dislocation emission, two different deformation states are observed, the stable and unstable deformation states. In the stable deformation state, the nucleated dislocation will emit from the crack tip and piles up at a distance far away from the crack tip, after that the new dislocation can not be nucleated unless the external loading increases. In the unstable deformation state, a number of dislocations can be emitted from the crack tip continuously under the same external load. The project is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.     

Study on fracture behavior of ferroelectric ceramics under combined electromechanical loading by using a moiré interferometry technique

This paper discusses an in situ observation of fracture behavior around a crack tip in ferroelectric ceramics under combined electromechanical loading by use of a moiré interferometry technique. The deformation field induced by the electric field and the stress concentration near the crack tip in three-points bending experiments was measured. By analysis of the moiré images it is found that under a constant mechanical load, the electric field almost has no effect on the crack extension in the case that the directions of the poling, electric field and crack extension are perpendicular to each other. When the poling direction is parallel to the crack extension direction and perpendicular to the electric field, the strain decreases faster than that calculated by FEM with and without electrical loading as one goes away from the crack tip. In addition, as the electric field intensity increases, the strain near the crack tip increases, and the strain concentration becomes more significant. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10132010, 10025209, 10232023)     

Multiscale modeling of crack initiation and propagation at the nanoscale

Fracture occurs on multiple interacting length scales; atoms separate on the atomic scale while plasticity develops on the microscale. A dynamic multiscale approach (CADD: coupled atomistics and discrete dislocations) is employed to investigate an edge-cracked specimen of single-crystal nickel, Ni, (brittle failure) and aluminum, Al, (ductile failure) subjected to mode-I loading. The dynamic model couples continuum finite elements to a fully atomistic region, with key advantages such as the ability to accommodate discrete dislocations in the continuum region and an algorithm for automatically detecting dislocations as they move from the atomistic region to the continuum region and then correctly “converting” the atomistic dislocations into discrete dislocations, or vice-versa. An ad hoc computational technique is also applied to dissipate localized waves formed during crack advance in the atomistic zone, whereby an embedded damping zone at the atomistic/continuum interface effectively eliminates the spurious reflection of high-frequency phonons, while allowing low-frequency phonons to pass into the continuum region.The simulations accurately capture the essential physics of the crack propagation in a Ni specimen at different temperatures, including the formation of nano-voids and the sudden acceleration of the crack tip to a velocity close to the material Rayleigh wave speed. The nanoscale brittle fracture happens through the crack growth in the form of nano-void nucleation, growth and coalescence ahead of the crack tip, and as such resembles fracture at the microscale. When the crack tip behaves in a ductile manner, the crack does not advance rapidly after the pre-opening process but is blunted by dislocation generation from its tip. The effect of temperature on crack speed is found to be perceptible in both ductile and brittle specimens.     

Interfacial cracks between piezoelectric and elastic materials under in-plane electric loading

A new experimental technique for accelerated fatigue crack growth tests was recently developed (Du et al., 2001). The technique, which uses piezoelectric actuators, enables application of cyclic loading at frequencies several orders higher than that by mechanical loading. However, the validity of this technique relies on the equivalence between piezoelectric and mechanical loading. In this paper, the behavior of an interfacial crack between a piezoelectric material and an elastic material under in-plane electric loading is studied. The displacement mismatch along a bonded interface due to electric potential loading on the piezoelectric material is modeled by inserting an array of uniformly distributed dislocations along the interface. By means of Fourier transformation methods, the governing equations are converted to an integral equation, which is then converted to a standard Hilbert problem. A closed form solution for stresses, electric field, and electric displacements along the bonded interface is obtained. The results agree very well with those obtained from numerical simulations. The results show that the closed form solution is accurate not only for far field distributions of stresses and electric variables, but also for the asymptotic distributions near the crack tip. The solution also suggests the likelihood of domain switching in the piezoelectric material near the crack tip, a process that may influence the interfacial fracture resistance.     

Failure analysis of stainless steel at elevated temperatures

In this paper, particular emphasis has been put on gathering information on the phenomena that take place at the crack tip of a crack propagating at 1100°F. Since the experimental program was directed toward studying crack propagation in tubing, the tests were conducted on rings.From the experimentally obtained data and from the correlation with the theoretically predicted values, the following picture emerges for the fracture behavior with full plasticity present. There is a region surrounding the crack tip where very large plastic deformations take place. This region is surrounded by a much larger region where the loading is nearly proportional and the behavior can be predicted well by the results of the deformation theory of plasticity and the theory of singularity fields. As the crack propagation initiates, there is a drastic change in the crack-tip configuration. The crack tip does not blunt and a fairly sharp crack-tip region is observed. The crack tip carries a large deformation field of a far more localized nature than that observed at the initiation of the crack growth.Paper was presented at 1978 SESA Spring Meeting held in Wichita, KS on May 14–19.     

裂尖超钝化:实验、理论与数值模拟

本文报道了在改性聚丙烯裂尖平面应变段发生超钝化的实验发现。利用环向冷拉模型,可说明裂尖超钝化的形成取决于冷拉传播速率与加载率之比。裂尖超钝化可使材料韧性,尤其是冲击韧性的改善,达到一个新的水平。本文在超弹性-粘塑性各向异性损伤的有限变形本构模型下进行了详尽的数值计算。模拟结果成功地再现了裂尖超钝化的基本特征。     

平面应力条件下闭合断续节理岩体力学特性试验研究

通过平面应力条件下闭合断续节理岩体的破坏试验,采用自行研制的高压柔性加载装置施加垂向和侧向荷载,用千分表和激光散斑照相技术量测试体位移场,用应变花量测试体平面应力场． 结果表明,激光散斑法用于测定闭合断续节理岩体的位移场效果良好,其测值比对应点千分表测值偏小１４％ 左右．据所测得的位移场和应力场,研究了裂纹尖端应力场的演变及裂纹扩展的路径,分析了试体的变形和破坏特征,测定了翼裂纹初裂角,探讨了试体的破坏机理．     

预置圆孔膨胀环动态断裂行为研究

利用中心线起爆膨胀环加载技术,采用分幅摄影技术观测了20号钢圆环在准一维拉伸作用下,预置圆孔缺陷临近区域的动态断裂特征。获得了高应变率下圆孔的变形、裂纹的萌生及扩展过程。并采用LS-DYNA3D有限元程序分步建模,将驱动器对膨胀环的冲击压力简化为直接作用于圆环内壁的压力历史,以此模拟了整个断裂过程。通过实验图像,得到裂纹尖端的位移以及速度随时间变化的曲线。结果表明,宏观可见裂纹出现于应力集中最大处,裂纹扩展速度随时间振荡,数值模拟与实验结果吻合较好。     

On fatigue crack growth in ductile materials by crack-tip blunting

One of the basic mechanisms for fatigue crack growth in ductile metals is that depending on crack-tip blunting under tensile loads and re-sharpening of the crack-tip during unloading. In a standard numerical analysis accounting for finite strains it is not possible to follow this process during many cycles, as severe mesh distortion at the crack-tip results from the huge geometry changes developing during the cyclic plastic straining. In the present numerical studies, based on an elastic-perfectly plastic material model, crack growth computations are continued up to 200 full cycles by using remeshing at several stages of the plastic deformation. Three different values of the load ratio R=K_min/K_max are considered. It is shown that the crack-tip opening displacement, CTOD, typically undergoes a transient behaviour, with no crack closure during many cycles, before a steady-state cycling with crack closure at the tip starts to gradually develop.     

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.     

Finite deformation analysis of crack tip fields in plastically compressible hardening–softening–hardening solids

Crack tip fields are calculated under plane strain small scale yielding conditions. The material is characterized by a finite strain elastic–viscoplastic constitutive relation with various hardening–softening–hardening hardness functions. Both plastically compressible and plastically incompressible solids are considered. Displacements corresponding to the isotropic linear elastic mode I crack field are prescribed on a remote boundary. The initial crack is taken to be a semi-circular notch and symmetry about the crack plane is imposed. Plastic compressibility is found to give an increased crack opening displacement for a given value of the applied loading. The plastic zone size and shape are found to depend on the plastic compressibility, but not much on whether material softening occurs near the crack tip.On the other hand, the near crack tip stress and deformation fields depend sensitively on whether or not material softening occurs. The combination of plastic compressibility and softening(or softening–hardening) has a particularly strong effect on the near crack tip stress and deformation fields.     

纳米晶体铝在单轴拉伸下的位错堆积对微裂纹扩展的影响

摘要：针对纳米晶体材料,研究了单轴拉伸载荷作用下纳米晶体铝中的裂纹与裂纹尖端发射的位错所形成的滑移面之间的相互作用。通过分布位错法,将裂纹和滑移面等效为均匀分布的连续位错,获得了裂纹面上应力场。并引入裂纹尖端的无位错区,研究了裂纹尖端无位错区对微裂纹的萌生和主裂扩展之间的影响。结果表明,不考虑裂纹尖端无位错区时,裂纹长度较短,会先在晶界处形成微裂纹,主裂纹较长时,主裂纹会直接穿晶扩展。滑移面与裂纹尖端夹角较大时,会增加裂纹尖端发射的位错个数,从而抑制主裂纹的扩展。考虑裂纹尖端无位错区时,无位错区先于晶界处出现微裂纹,通过主裂纹与微裂纹之间位错的相互发射,导致裂纹与尖端处微裂纹汇合,有效加速了主裂纹的扩展。     

A viscoplastic study of crack-tip deformation and crack growth in a nickel-based superalloy at elevated temperature

Viscoplastic crack-tip deformation behaviour in a nickel-based superalloy at elevated temperature has been studied for both stationary and growing cracks in a compact tension (CT) specimen using the finite element method. The material behaviour was described by a unified viscoplastic constitutive model with non-linear kinematic and isotropic hardening rules, and implemented in the finite element software ABAQUS via a user-defined material subroutine (UMAT). Finite element analyses for stationary cracks showed distinctive strain ratchetting behaviour near the crack tip at selected load ratios, leading to progressive accumulation of tensile strain normal to the crack-growth plane. Results also showed that low frequencies and superimposed hold periods at peak loads significantly enhanced strain accumulation at crack tip. Finite element simulation of crack growth was carried out under a constant ΔK-controlled loading condition, again ratchetting was observed ahead of the crack tip, similar to that for stationary cracks.A crack-growth criterion based on strain accumulation is proposed where a crack is assumed to grow when the accumulated strain ahead of the crack tip reaches a critical value over a characteristic distance. The criterion has been utilized in the prediction of crack-growth rates in a CT specimen at selected loading ranges, frequencies and dwell periods, and the predictions were compared with the experimental results.     

A finite element study of the near crack tip deformation of a ductile material under mixed mode loading

In ductile fracture, voids near a crack tip play an important role. From this point of view, a large deformation finite element analysis has been made to study the deformation, stress and strain, and void ratio near the crack tip under mixed mode plane strain loading conditions, employing Gurson's constitutive equation which has taken into account the effects of void nucleation and growth. The results show that: (i) one corner of the crack tip sharpens while the other corner blunts, (ii) the stress and strain distributions except for the near crack tip region, can be superimposed by normalizing distance from the crack tip by a crack tip deformation length, i.e., a steady-state solution under a mixed mode condition has been obtained, (iii) the field near a crack tip can be divided into four characteristic fields (K field, HRR field, blunted crack tip field, and damaged region), and (iv) the strain and void volume fraction become concentrated in the sharpened part of a crack tip with increasing Mode II component.     

分子动力学模拟含不同初始缺陷单晶镍的断裂行为与应力演化

断裂是一个跨尺度复杂的物理过程,对宏观尺度的断裂行为已有深入的研究和发展,然而对微观尺度的断裂行为及断裂过程中应力场的变化缺乏深入的理解。本文通过分子动力学模拟,研究了具有不同初始缺陷(尖锐裂纹、钝裂纹和孔洞)的单晶镍的断裂行为和应力分布特征。结果表明,不同的初始缺陷导致了不同的断裂机制、断裂强度和抗断裂性能。含初始孔洞的单晶镍样品有最高的断裂强度和最强的抗断裂性能,这与孔洞扩展过程中堆积层错的形成密切相关。其次是含初始钝裂纹的样品,在裂纹扩展过程中出现由[100]超位错发射引起的裂尖钝化;含尖锐裂纹的样品表现为脆性断裂,裂尖原子没有出现微结构的变化,其强度和抗断裂性能最低。此外,不同的初始缺陷也会导致断裂过程中应力分布的变化,对含有尖锐裂纹的脆性断裂试样,高应力(拉伸应力、平均应力和米塞斯应力)总是出现在扩展裂纹的裂尖。而对于含有钝裂纹或孔洞的韧性断裂试样,高应力不仅分布在裂尖,也分布在位错发射和堆积层错形成的区域,在裂纹/孔洞扩展之前,应力随着加载时间的增加而迅速增加,而一旦裂纹或孔洞开始扩展,应力增加非常缓慢或几乎不增加,但拉伸应力值始终大于平均应力和米塞斯应力值。这表明,在I型...