An effective boundary element method for analysis of crack problems in a plane elastic plate

A simple and effective boundary element method for stress intensity factor calculation for crack problems in a plane elastic plate is presented. The boundary element method consists of the constant displacement discontinuity element presented by Crouch and Starfield and the crack-tip displacement discontinuity elements proposed by YAN Xiangqiao. In the boundary element implementation the left or the right crack-tip displacement discontinuity element was placed locally at the corresponding left or right each crack tip on top of the constant displacement discontinuity elements that cover the entire crack surface and the other boundaries. Test examples (i. e. , a center crack in an infinite plate under tension, a circular hole and a crack in an infinite plate under tension) are included to illustrate that the numerical approach is very simple and accurate for stress intensity factor calculation of plane elasticity crack problems. In addition, specifically, the stress intensity factors of branching cracks emanating from a square hole in a rectangular plate under biaxial loads were analysed. These numerical results indicate the present numerical approach is very effective for calculating stress intensity factors of complex cracks in a 2-D finite body, and are used to reveal the effect of the biaxial loads and the cracked body geometry on stress intensity factors.     

A numerical analysis of cracks emanating from an elliptical hole in a 2-D elasticity plate

This paper is concerned with the stress intensity factors (SIFs) of cracks emanating from an elliptical hole in an infinite or a finite plate under biaxial loads by using a boundary element method, which consists of the non-singular displacement discontinuity element presented by Crouch and Starfield and the crack-tip displacement discontinuity elements due to the author. In the boundary element implementation the left or the right crack-tip element is placed locally at the corresponding left or right crack tip on top of the constant displacement discontinuity elements that cover the entire crack surface and the other boundaries. A few numerical examples are included to show that the present approach is very efficient and accurate for the calculating the SIFs of crack problems in an infinite or a finite plate. The present numerical results of cracks emanating from an elliptical hole under biaxial loads can reveal the effect of the elliptical aspect ratio and the transverse load on the SIFs.     

Multiple cracks in thermoelectroelastic bimaterials

The formulation for thermal stress and electric displacement in an infinite thermopiezoelectric plate with an interface and multiple cracks is presented. Using Green's function approach and the principle of superposition, a system of singular integral equations for the unknown temperature discontinuity defined on each crack face is developed and solved numerically. The formulation can then be used to calculate some fracture parameters such as the stress–electric displacement and strain energy density factor. The direction of crack growth for many cracks in thermopiezoelectric bimaterials is predicted by way of the strain energy density theory. Numerical results for stress–electric displacement factors and crack growth direction at a particular crack tip in two crack system of bimaterials are presented to illustrate the application of the proposed formulation.     

Isolated crack in three-dimensional piezoelectric solid. Part II: Stress intensity factors for circular crack

This is part II of the work concerned with finding the stress intensity factors for a circular crack in a solid with piezoelectric behavior. The method of solution involves reducing the problem to a system of hypersingular integral equations by application of the unit concentrated displacement discontinuity and the unit concentrated electric potential discontinuity derived in part I [1]. The near crack border elastic displacement, electric potential, stress and electric displacement are obtained. Stress and electric displacement intensity factors can be expressed in terms of the displacement and the potential discontinuity on the crack surface. Analogy is established between the boundary integral equations for arbitrary shaped cracks in a piezoelectric and elastic medium such that once the stress intensity factors in the piezoelectric medium can be determined directly from that of the elastic medium. Results for the penny-shaped crack are obtained as an example.     

双轴载荷作用下源于椭圆孔的分支裂纹的一种边界元分析

利用一种边界元方法来研究双轴载荷作用下无限大板中源于椭圆孔的分支裂纹．该边界元方法由Crouch与Starfied建立的常位移不连续单元和笔者提出的裂尖位移不连续单元构成．在该边界元方法的实施过程中,左、右裂尖位移不连续单元分别置于裂纹的左、右裂尖处,而常位移不连续单元则分布于除了裂尖位移不连续单元占据的位置之外的整个裂纹面及其它边界,文中算例说明本数值方法对计算平面弹性裂纹的应力强度因子是非常有效的。该文对双轴载荷作用下无限大板中源于椭圆孔的分支裂纹的数值结果进一步证实本数值方法对计算复杂裂纹的应力强度因子的有效性,同时该数值结果可以揭示双轴载荷及裂纹体几何对应力强度因子的影响。     

A numerical analysis of cracks emanating from a surface elliptical hole in infinite body in tension

This paper deals with such a kind of surface crack problem with an approximately same depth, which is called a liked-plane crack problem. Based on the previous investigations on internal rectangular crack and surface rectangular crack in infinite solid in tension and a hybrid displacement discontinuity method (a boundary element method) proposed recently by Yan, a numerical approach for the liked-plane crack problem in hand is presented. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the numerical approach is simple, yet accurate for calculating the SIFs of a liked-plane crack. Specifically, a pair of cracks emanating from a surface elliptical hole in infinite body in tension are investigated in detail.     

Fatigue growth modeling of cracks emanating from a circular hole in infinite plate

This paper presents a numerical approach of fatigue growth analysis of cracks emanating from a hole in infinite elastic plate subjected to remote loads. It involves a generation of Bueckner’s principle and a hybrid displacement discontinuity method (a boundary element method) proposed recently by the senior author of the paper. Because of an intrinsic feature of the boundary element method, a general crack growth problem can be solved in a single region formulation. In the numerical simulation, for each increment of crack extension, remeshing of existing boundaries is not necessary. Crack extension is modeled conveniently by adding new boundary elements on the incremental crack extension to the previous crack boundaries. As an example, fatigue growth process of an inclined crack in an infinite plate under uniaxial cycle load is modeled to illustrate the effectiveness of the numerical approach. In addition, fatigue growth of cracks emanating from a circular hole in infinite elastic plate subjected to remote loads is investigated by using the numerical approach. Many numerical results are given     

Analysis method of planar cracks of arbitrary shape in the isotropic plane of a three-dimensional transversely isotropic magnetoelectroelastic medium

The hyper-singular boundary integral equation method of crack analysis in three-dimensional transversely isotropic magnetoelectroelastic media is proposed. Based on the fundamental solutions or Green’s functions of three-dimensional transversely isotropic magnetoelectroelastic media and the corresponding Somigliana identity, the boundary integral equations for a planar crack of arbitrary shape in the plane of isotropy are obtained in terms of the extended displacement discontinuities across crack faces. The extended displacement discontinuities include the displacement discontinuities, the electric potential discontinuity and the magnetic potential discontinuity, and correspondingly the extended tractions on crack face represent the conventional tractions, the electric displacement and the magnetic induction boundary values. The near crack tip fields and the intensity factors in terms of the extended displacement discontinuities are derived by boundary integral equation approach. A solution method is proposed by use of the analogy between the boundary integral equations of the magnetoelectroelastic media and the purely elastic materials. The influence of different electric and magnetic boundary conditions, i.e., electrically and magnetically impermeable and permeable conditions, electrically impermeable and magnetically permeable condition, and electrically permeable and magnetically impermeable condition, on the solutions is studied. The crack opening model is proposed to consider the real crack opening and the electric and magnetic fields in the crack cavity under combined mechanical-electric-magnetic loadings. An iteration approach is presented for the solution of the non-linear model. The exact solution is obtained for the case of uniformly applied loadings on the crack faces. Numerical results for a square crack under different electric and magnetic boundary conditions are displayed to demonstrate the proposed method.     

FATIGUE GROWTH MODELING OF MIXED-MODE CRACK IN PLANE ELASTIC MEDIA

This paper presents an extension of a displacement discontinuity method with cracktip elements （a boundary element method） proposed by the author for fatigue crack growth analysis in plane elastic media under mixed-mode conditions. The boundary element method consists of the non-singular displacement discontinuity elements presented by Crouch and Starfield and the crack-tip displacement discontinuity elements due to the author. In the boundary element implementation the left or right crack-tip element is placed locally at the corresponding left or right crack tip on top of the non-singular displacement discontinuity elements that cover the entire crack surface and the other boundaries. Crack growth is simulated with an incremental crack extension analysis based on the maximum circumferential stress criterion. In the numerical simulation, for each increment of crack extension, remeshing of existing boundaries is not required because of an intrinsic feature of the numerical approach. Crack growth is modeled by adding new boundary elements on the incremental crack extension to the previous crack boundaries. At the same time, the element characteristics of some related elements are adjusted according to the manner in which the boundary element method is implemented. As an example, the fatigue growth process of cracks emanating from a circular hole in a plane elastic plate is simulated using the numerical simulation approach.     

Green function and its application for a piezoelectric plate with various openings

Summary For a two-dimensional piezoelectric plate subjected to mechanical and electric load, a Green function satisfying traction free and exact electric boundary conditions along a hole is developed using Lekhnitskii's formalism and the technique of conformal mapping. The critical points for the mapping function used is investigated numerically, and the study indicates that the transformation of a polygonal hole in a piezoelectric plate into a unit circle is nonsingle-valued. A simple approach is presented to treat such a situation. Based on the Green function developed in this paper, a system of singular integral equations for the unknown dislocation defined on crack faces is presented to study the interaction between cracks and holes. Numerical results are presented to elucidate the effects of crack orientation on stress and electric displacement (SED) intensity factors and to illustrate the application of the proposed formulation. Received 4 June 1998, accepted for publication 15 July 1988     

A new solution for thermopiezoelectric solid with an insulated elliptic hole

A new solution is obtained for thermal analysis of insulated elliptic hole embedded in an infinite thermopiezoelectric plate. In contrast to our previous results, the present formulation is based on the use of exact electric boundary conditions at the rim of the hole, thus avoiding the common assumption of electric impermeability. Using Lekhnitskii's formulation and conformal mapping, the elastic and electric fields can be expressed in a closed form in terms of complex potentials. The solutions for the crack problem are obtained by setting the minor axis of the ellipse approach to zero. As a consequence, the stress and electric displacement (SED) intensity factors and strain energy release rate can be derived analytically. One numerical example is considered to illustrate the application of the proposed formulation and compare with those obtained from impermeable model. The work was performed with the support of Australian Research Council Foundation.     

内部压力作用下矩形板中源于椭圆孔的分支裂纹应力强度因子的一种数值分析

应用一种边界元方法来研究内部压力作用下矩形板中源于椭圆孔的分支裂纹。该边界元方法由Crouch与Starfied建立的常位移不连续单元和笔者最近提出的裂尖位移不连续单元构成。在该边界元方法的实施过程中,左、右裂尖位移不连续单元分别置于裂纹的左、右裂尖处,而常位移不连续单元则分布于除了裂尖位移不连续单元占据的位置之外的整个裂纹面及其它边界。本数值结果进一步证实这种数值方法对计算有限大板中复杂裂纹的应力强度因子的有效性,同时该数值结果可以揭示裂纹体几何对应力强度因子的影响。     

Thermopiezoelectric interaction of macro- and micro-cracks in piezoelectric medium

Considered is the interaction of macro-and micro-cracks in an anisotropic piezoelectric solid. The Green’s function and principle of superposition are used to formulate a system of singular integral equations for solving the unknown temperature discontinuity and elastic displacement-electric potential. The residual heat flux, stress and electric displacement on the microcrack are evaluated directly from the near-tip field of main crack. Numerical results for stress and electric displacement intensity factors in a three-crack system are obtained to illustrate the application of the method.     

Isolated crack in three-dimensional piezoelectric solid: Part I - Solution by Hankel transform

The fundamental solutions are obtained for a unit concentrated electric potential discontinuity and unit concentrated displacement discontinuity in a three-dimensional piezoelectric medium. Displacements and stresses are derived by application of the boundary integral equation method. These expressions are used to obtain the stress intensity factors for a circular crack in Part II of the study.     

A special crack tip displacement discontinuity element

Based on the analytical solution to the problem of a constant discontinuity in displacement over a finite line segment in the x, y plane of an infinite elastic solid and the note of the crack tip element by Crouch, in the present paper, the special crack tip displacement discontinuity element is developed. Further the analytical formulas for the stress intensity factors of crack problems in general plane elasticity are given. In the boundary element implementation the special crack tip displacement discontinuity element is placed locally at each crack tip on top of the non-singular constant displacement discontinuity elements that cover the entire crack surface. Numerical results show that the displacement discontinuity modeling technique of a crack presented in this paper is very effective.     

The weight function for cracks in piezoelectrics

The weight function in fracture mechanics is the stress intensity factor at the tip of a crack in an elastic material due to a point load at an arbitrary location in the body containing the crack. For a piezoelectric material, this definition is extended to include the effect of point charges and the presence of an electric displacement intensity factor at the tip of the crack. Thus, the weight function permits the calculation of the crack tip intensity factors for an arbitrary distribution of applied loads and imposed electric charges. In this paper, the weight function for calculating the stress and electric displacement intensity factors for cracks in piezoelectric materials is formulated from Maxwell relationships among the energy release rate, the physical displacements and the electric potential as dependent variables and the applied loads and electric charges as independent variables. These Maxwell relationships arise as a result of an electric enthalpy for the body that can be formulated in terms of the applied loads and imposed electric charges. An electric enthalpy for a body containing an electrically impermeable crack can then be stated that accounts for the presence of loads and charges for a problem that has been solved previously plus the loads and charges associated with an unsolved problem for which the stress and electric displacement intensity factors are to be found. Differentiation of the electric enthalpy twice with respect to the applied loads (or imposed charges) and with respect to the crack length gives rise to Maxwell relationships for the derivative of the crack tip energy release rate with respect to the applied loads (or imposed charges) of the unsolved problem equal to the derivative of the physical displacements (or the electric potential) of the solved problem with respect to the crack length. The Irwin relationship for the crack tip energy release rate in terms of the crack tip intensity factors then allows the intensity factors for the unsolved problem to be formulated, thereby giving the desired weight function. The results are used to derive the weight function for an electrically impermeable Griffith crack in an infinite piezoelectric body, thereby giving the stress intensity factors and the electric displacement intensity factor due to a point load and a point charge anywhere in an infinite piezoelectric body. The use of the weight function to compute the electric displacement factor for an electrically permeable crack is then presented. Explicit results based on a previous analysis are given for a Griffith crack in an infinite body of PZT-5H poled orthogonally to the crack surfaces.     

拉伸载荷作用下单边缺陷-边裂纹应力强度因子研究

利用杂交位移不连续法研究拉伸载荷作用下矩形板中单边缺陷-边裂纹(半圆孔裂纹和半方孔裂纹)问题,给出了这三种平面弹性裂纹问题的应力强度因子的详细数值解。通过半圆孔裂纹问题和半方孔裂纹问题与单边裂纹问题的应力强度因子的比较,发现半圆孔和半方孔对单边裂纹有屏蔽影响。此外,本文的研究结果表明,杂交位移不连续法用于分析平面弹性有限体中复杂裂纹问题的应力强度因子简单且又准确。     

The analysis of crack problems with non-local elasticity

IntroductionTheclassicalconhnuummechanicshasbeenusedtosolvemanyproblemsinmacrofracturemechanics,butencountersdifficulheswhentheeffectofITilcrocharacteristicdimensionshouldbetakenintoaccount.Thestressfieldverynearthecracktipisstillnotclear.Somephenomenaofshortcrackscannotbeexplained["']andsomemechanismoffracturehasnotbeensolvedyet.Thenon-localelashcitytheoryseemsattractivetotheseproblems.Thetheoryofnon-localelasticity,establishedanddevelopedbyEringenetal[3),connectstheclassicalcontinuummechan…     

Dynamic interaction of multiple arbitrarily oriented planar cracks in a piezoelectric space: A semi-analytic solution

The problem of determining the electro-elastic fields around arbitrarily oriented planar cracks in an infinite piezoelectric space is considered. The cracks which are acted upon by a transient load are either electrically impermeable or permeable. A semi-analytic method based on the theory of exponential Fourier transformation is proposed for solving the problem in the Laplace transform domain. The Laplace transforms of the jumps in the displacements and electric potential across opposite crack faces are determined by solving a system of hypersingular integral equations. Once these displacement and electric potential jumps are obtained, the displacements and electric potential and other physical quantities of interest, such as the crack tip stress and electric displacement intensity factors, can be computed with the help of a suitable algorithm for inverting Laplace transforms. The stress and electric displacement intensity factors are computed for some specific cases of the problem.     

Exact solutions for the plane problem in piezoelectric materials with an elliptic or a crack

Based on the complex potential approach, the two-dimensional problems in a piezoelectric material containing an elliptic hole subjected to uniform remote loads are studied. The explicit, closed-form solutions satisfying the exact electric boundary condition on the hole surface are given both inside and outside the hole. When the elliptic hole degenerates into a crack, the field intensity factors are obtained. It is shown that the stress intensity factors are the same as that of isotropic material, while the electric displacement intensity factor depends on both the material properties and the mechanical loads, but not on the electric loads. In other words, the uniform electric loads have no influence on the field singularities. It is also shown that the impermeable crack assumption used previously to simply the electric condition is not valid to crack problems in piezoelectric materials.