Griffith crack moving in a piezoelectric strip

Summary  The dynamic problem of an impermeable crack of constant length 2a propagating along a piezoelectric ceramic strip is considered under the action of uniform anti-plane shear stress and uniform electric field. The integral transform technique is employed to reduce the mixed-boundary-value problem to a singular integral equation. For the case of a crack moving in the mid-plane, explicit analytic expressions for the electroelastic field and the field intensity factors are obtained, while for an eccentric crack moving along a piezoelectric strip, numerical results are determined via the Lobatto–Chebyshev collocation method for solving a resulting singular integral equation. The results reveal that the electric-displacement intensity factor is independent of the crack velocity, while other field intensity factors depend on the crack velocity when referred to the moving coordinate system. If the crack velocity vanishes, the present results reduce to those for a stationary crack in a piezoelectric strip. In contrast to the results for a stationary crack, applied stress gives rise to a singular electric field and applied electric field results in a singular stress for a moving crack in a piezoelectric strip. Received 14 August 2001; accepted for publication 24 September 2002 The author is indebted to the AAM Reviewers for their helpful suggestions for improving this paper. The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 70272043.     

Crack propagation along the interface of piezoelectric bimaterial

This paper is concerned with the propagation of a crack along the interface of a piezoelectric bimaterial, which can travel at subsonic or intersonic speed. The inertial effects are taken into account while the static approximation is applied to the electric fields. The effect of piezoelectricity on the asymptotic crack-tip field is discussed for an interface crack propagating subsonically and intersonically. An alternative method is used to avoid solving for the eigenvectors. This paper provides a unified method to analyze the crack-tip field of a crack propagating along a piezoelectric bimaterial interface.     

Cracking of an orthotropic substrate reinforced by an orthotropic plate

A solution method is derived to determine the stress intensity factors for both an internal crack and an edge crack in an orthotropic substrate that is reinforced on its boundary by a finite-length orthotropic plate. The method utilizes the Green’s functions for a pair of dislocations and a concentrated force on the boundary while invoking the concept of superposition. Enforcing the traction-free boundary condition along the crack surfaces and the continuity of displacement gradients along the plate/substrate interface results in a coupled system of singular integral equations. An asymptotic analysis of the kernels in these equations for the region of the junction point between the plate corner and the substrate boundary reveals the strength of the singularity in the case of an edge crack. The numerical solution of the integral equations provides results for the stress intensity factors for both an internal crack and an edge crack perpendicular to the substrate boundary and aligned with one of the corners of the plate. The present results have been validated against previously published stress intensity factors for an internal crack and an edge crack in an isotropic substrate.     

Electroelastic field for an impermeable anti-plane shear crack in a piezoelectric ceramics plate

Electroelastic behavior of a cracked piezoelectric ceramics plate subjected to four cases of combined mechanical-electrical loads is analyzed. The integral transform method is applied to convert the problem involving an impermeable anti-plane crack to dual integral equations. Solving the resulting equations, the explicit analytic expressions for electroelastic field along the crack line and the intensity factors of relevant quantities near the crack tip and the mechanical strain energy release rate are obtained. The known results for an infinite piezoelectric ceramics plane containing an impermeable anti-plane crack are recovered from the present results only if the thickness of the plate h → ∞. Biography: LI Xian-fang (1964-)     

Crack at the apex of a loaded notch

This paper deals with the plane elastostatic problem of an infinite wedge, subjected to arbitrary surface tractions, and cracked along the wedge angle bisector. The problem is reduced to a single Fredholm integral equation, which is solved numerically for normal loads on the crack faces and various loads on the wedge faces. It is shown that the crack tip intensity factor depends strongly on the wedge angle. An approximation to a half plane with a notch of finite angle, cracked at its apex, is also obtained.     

Two dimensional numerical simulation of crack kinking from an interface under dynamic loading by time domain boundary element method

The hybrid time-domain boundary element method, together with the multi-region technique, is applied to simulate the dynamic process of propagation and/or kinking of an interface crack in a two-dimensional bi-material. The whole bi-material is divided into two regions along the interface. The traditional displacement boundary integral equations are employed with respect to each region. However, when the crack kinks into the matrix material, the non-hypersingular traction boundary integral equations are used with respect to the part of the crack in the matrix. Crack propagation along the interface is numerically modelled by releasing the nodes in the front of the moving crack-tip controlled by the fracture criterion. Kinking of the interface crack is controlled by a criterion developed from the quasi-static one. Once the crack kinks into the matrix, its propagation is modeled by adding new elements of constant length to the moving crack-tip controlled by a criterion extended from the quasi-static maximum circumferential stress. The numerical results of the crack growth trajectory for different material combinations are computed and compared with the corresponding experimental results. Good agreement between numerical and experimental results implies that the present boundary element numerical method can provide an excellent simulation for the dynamic propagation and deflection of an interface crack.     

Interaction between a screw dislocation and an elastic elliptical inhomogeneity with interfacial cracks

The elastic interaction between a screw dislocation and an elliptical inhomogeneity with interfacial cracks is studied. The screw dislocation may be located outside or inside the inhomogeneity. An efficient complex variable method for the complex multiply connected region is developed, and the general solutions to the problem are derived. As illustrative examples, solutions in explicit series form for complex potentials are presented in the case of one or two interfacial cracks. Image forces on the dislocation are calculated by using the Peach-Koehler formula. The influence of crack geometries and material properties on the image forces is evaluated and discussed. It is shown that the interfacial crack has a significant effect on the equilibrium position of the dislocation near an elliptical-arc interface. The main results indicate, when the length of the crack goes up to a critical value, the presence of the interfacial crack can change the interaction mechanism between a screw dislocation and an elliptical inclusion. The present solutions can include a number of previously known results as special cases.The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(10272009 and 10472030) and the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province(02JJY2014)     

Asymptotic elastic solution for two straight cracks of arbitrary length and location

An infinite elastic plane containing two straight cracks of arbitrary length and location is analyzed within the framework of elastostatics. The mathematical formulation is based on the stress solution for a single crack and leads to a system of singular integral equations that govern the crack surface displacement densities. The solution series in terms of the reciprocal of the crack centre distance is not suitable for cracks that are spaced too closely. It is shown by way of examples that the method of asymptotic solution is convenient for developing approximation expressions of the stress and displacement field with certain characteristics. The formulas for the stress intensity factors and crack opening are given for the case of a constant tensile load. Graphical results are given for the variations of the stress intensity factors with parameters depending on the relative positions of the cracks.     

International conference on role of fracture mechanics in modern technology : Fukuoka, Japan, June 2–6, 1986

An infinite elastic plane containing two straight cracks of arbitrary length and location is analyzed within the framework of elastostatics. The mathematical formulation is based on the stress solution for a single crack and leads to a system of singular integral equations that govern the crack surface displacement densities. The solution series in terms of the reciprocal of the crack centre distance is not suitable for cracks that are spaced too closely. It is shown by way of examples that the method of asymptotic solution is convenient for developing approximation expressions of the stress and displacement field with certain characteristics. The formulas for the stress intensity factors and crack opening are given for the case of a constant tensile load. Graphical results are given for the variations of the stress intensity factors with parameters depending on the relative positions of the cracks.     

ELECTROELASTIC FIELD FOR AN IMPERMEABLE ANTI-PLANE SHEAR CRACK IN A PIEZOELECTRIC CERAMICS PLATE

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Crack paths in three-dimensional elastic solids. ii: three-term expansion of the stress intensity factors—applications and perspectives

This work continues the calculation of the stress intensity factors, as a function of position s along the front of an arbitrary (kinked and curved) infinitesimal extension of some arbitrary crack on some three-dimensional body. More precisely, ε denoting a small parameter which the crack extension length is proportional to, what is studied here is the third term, proportional to εfn2 = ε and noted K ⁽¹⁾ (s) ε, of the expansion of these stress intensity factors at the point s of the crack front in powers of ε. The novelties with respect to previous works due to Gao and Rice on the one hand and Nazarov on the other hand, are that both the original crack and its extension need not necessarily be planar, and that a kink (discontinuity of the tangent plane to the crack) can occur all along the original crack front. Two expressions of K ⁽¹⁾ (s) are obtained; the difference is that the first one is more synthetic whereas the second one makes the influence of the kink angle (which can vary along the original crack front) more explicit. Application of some criterion then allows to obtain the apriori unknown geometric parameters of the small crack extension (length, kink angle, curvature parameters). The small scale segmentation of the crack front which is observed experimentally in the presence of mode III is disregarded here because a large scale point of view is adopted; this phenomenon will be discussed in a separate paper. It is shown how these results can be used to numerically predict crack paths over arbitrary distances in three dimensions. Simple applications to problems of configurational stability and bifurcation of the crack front are finally presented.     

Moving interfacial crack between piezoelectric ceramic and elastic layers

An analysis is performed for the problem of a finite Griffith crack moving with constant velocity along the interface of a two-layered strip composed of a piezoelectric ceramic and an elastic layers. The combined out-of-plane mechanical and in-plane electrical loads are applied to the strip. Fourier transforms are used to reduce the problem to a pair of dual integral equations, which is then expressed in terms of a Fredholm integral equation of the second kind. The dynamic stress intensity factor(DSIF) is determined, and numerical results show that DSIF depends on the crack length, the ratio of stiffness and thickness, and the magnitude and direction of electrical loads as well as the crack speed. In case that the crack moves along the interface of piezoelectric and elastic half planes, DSIF is independent of the crack speed.     

Study on the coalescence mechanism of splitting failure of crack-weakened rock subjected to compressive loads

It is of important significance to study the coalescence mechanism of splitting failure of crack-weakened rock masses under compressive loads. In this paper, a simplified mechanism of crack propagation, in which the crack grows along the direction of maximum principal compressive stress, is proposed. Thus, only mode I is taken into account in the formulation and solution. On the basis of the near crack line analysis method, the elastic–plastic stress field near the crack line is analyzed, and the law that the length of the plastic zone along the crack line is varied with an external loads have been established by the matching condition of the elastic- plastic fields on the boundary, the coalescence stress and the strength properties of rock masses have been determined. The solution is a function of the geometry of the crack array. The results show that the crack coalescence depends on the crack interface friction coefficient, the sliding crack spacing, orientation of the cracks, and the crack half-length. The conclusions are of important significance for rock mass engineering.     

Modeling quasi-static crack growth with the extended finite element method Part II: Numerical applications

In Part I [Int. J. Solids Struct., 2003], we described the implementation of the extended finite element method (X-FEM) within Dynaflow™, a standard finite element package. In our implementation, we focused on two-dimensional crack modeling in linear elasticity. For crack modeling in the X-FEM, a discontinuous function and the near-tip asymptotic functions are added to the finite element approximation using the framework of partition of unity. This permits the crack to be represented without explicitly meshing the crack surfaces and crack propagation simulations can be carried out without the need for any remeshing. In this paper, we present numerical solutions for the stress intensity factor for crack problems, and also conduct crack growth simulations with the X-FEM. Numerical examples are presented with a two-fold objective: first to show the efficacy of the X-FEM implementation in Dynaflow™; and second to demonstrate the accuracy and versatility of the method to solve challenging problems in computational failure mechanics.     

A numerical study on the SEN-TPB test applied to mode I wood fracture characterization

A numerical study involving the single edge notched-three point bending test was methodically performed to evaluate its adequacy for wood fracture characterization under mode I loading. Stress analysis along the ligament length using cohesive zone modeling allowed understating the influence of the compressive stresses induced by bending on the stress profile for geometrically similar specimens with different sizes. The stress relief region induced by the presence of the crack was identified by a stress analysis procedure along the beam length. A data reduction scheme based on the beam theory and on the crack equivalent concept was then developed considering an approach using a rectangular stress relief region. The method allows estimating the Resistance-curve without monitoring the crack length during propagation. Important remarks regarding the aspects which contribute to explain the size effect phenomenon in wood are highlighted in this study. Following the presented procedure the application of the single edge notched-three point bending test for wood fracture characterization under mode I has become considerably user-friendlier.     

Molecular-dynamics simulation-based cohesive zone representation of intergranular fracture processes in aluminum

A traction-displacement relationship that may be embedded into a cohesive zone model for microscale problems of intergranular fracture is extracted from atomistic molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations. An MD model for crack propagation under steady-state conditions is developed to analyze intergranular fracture along a flat Σ99 [1 1 0] symmetric tilt grain boundary in aluminum. Under hydrostatic tensile load, the simulation reveals asymmetric crack propagation in the two opposite directions along the grain boundary. In one direction, the crack propagates in a brittle manner by cleavage with very little or no dislocation emission, and in the other direction, the propagation is ductile through the mechanism of deformation twinning. This behavior is consistent with the Rice criterion for cleavage vs. dislocation blunting transition at the crack tip. The preference for twinning to dislocation slip is in agreement with the predictions of the Tadmor and Hai criterion. A comparison with finite element calculations shows that while the stress field around the brittle crack tip follows the expected elastic solution for the given boundary conditions of the model, the stress field around the twinning crack tip has a strong plastic contribution. Through the definition of a Cohesive-Zone-Volume-Element—an atomistic analog to a continuum cohesive zone model element—the results from the MD simulation are recast to obtain an average continuum traction-displacement relationship to represent cohesive zone interaction along a characteristic length of the grain boundary interface for the cases of ductile and brittle decohesion.     

Finite size and geometrical non-linear effects during crack pinning by heterogeneities: An analytical and experimental study

Crack pinning by heterogeneities is a central toughening mechanism in the failure of brittle materials. So far, most analytical explorations of the crack front deformation arising from spatial variations of fracture properties have been restricted to weak toughness contrasts using first order approximation and to defects of small dimensions with respect to the sample size. In this work, we investigate the non-linear effects arising from larger toughness contrasts by extending the approximation to the second order, while taking into account the finite sample thickness. Our calculations predict the evolution of a planar crack lying on the mid-plane of a plate as a function of material parameters and loading conditions, especially in the case of a single infinitely elongated obstacle. Peeling experiments are presented which validate the approach and evidence that the second order term broadens its range of validity in terms of toughness contrast values. The work highlights the non-linear response of the crack front to strong defects and the central role played by the thickness of the specimen on the pinning process.     

Modeling of pre-fracture zones for limited permeable crack in piezoelectric materials

A plane-strain problem for a limited permeable crack in an adhesive thin interlayer between two semi-infinite piezoelectric spaces is considered. The tensile mechanical stress and the electric displacement are applied at infinity. The interlayer is assumed to be softer than the connected materials; therefore, the zones of mechanical yielding and electric saturations can arise at the crack tips on the continuations of the crack. These zones are considered in this work. It was assumed that the length of electric saturation zones is larger than the length of mechanical yield zones. The zones of mechanical yielding are modeled by the crack continuations with normal compressive stresses applied at its faces. The electric saturation zones are modeled by segments at the crack continuations with prescribed saturated electric displacements. These electric displacements can linearly vary along the mechanical yielding zones. The problem is reduced to the Hilbert–Riemann problem of linear relationship, which is solved exactly. The equation for the determination of the yielding zones length, the expressions for the crack-opening displacement jump, electric potential jump, and J-integral is obtained in an analytical form. In case of finite size body, the finite elements method is used and the variation in the fracture mechanical parameters with respect to this size is demonstrated.     

模拟裂纹扩展的单位分解扩展无网格法

单位分解扩展无网格法(PUEM)是一种求解不连续问题的新型无网格方法.其基于单位分解思想,通过在传统无网格法的近似函数中加入扩展项来反映由裂纹所产生的不连续位移场.详细描述了水平集方法,PUEM不连续近似函数的构造及控制方程的离散.针对裂纹扩展问题,提出了一种十分简单的水平集更新算法;讨论了不同的节点数、高斯积分阶次以及围线积分区域对应力强度因子计算结果的影响,并给出了合理的参数;模拟了边裂纹和中心裂纹的扩展问题,并与XFEM的数值结果进行了比较.数值算例表明,本文方法具有较高的计算精度,是模拟裂纹扩展非常有效的方法,具有广阔的应用前景.     

Crack edge displacement and elastic constant determination for an orthotropic material

A method for determining the elastic constants of an isotropic material, based on crack edge displacement data, is extended to an orthotropic material. Complex potentials are used to obtain the stresses and displacements for plane strain. Mode I crack problems in three mutually orthogonal planes are considered and solved. In particular, the expressions of crack edge displacements are obtained in an explicit form. An iterative statistical identification method, based on a Bayesan approach, is used to identify the elastic constants of an orthotropic medium from the Mode I crack displacements measured from the mid-point of the crack. Some graphics are displayed to illustrate the convergence of the pertinent parameters and the approach of the analytical displacements to their experimental values.