An Element Free Galerkin analysis of steady dynamic growth of a mode i crack in elastic–plastic materials

An Element Free Galerkin (EFG) method based formulation for steady dynamic crack growth in elastic–plastic materials is developed. A domain convecting parallel to the steadily moving crack tip is employed. The EFG methodology eliminates the stringent mesh requirements of the Finite Element Method (FEM) for such problems. Both rate-independent materials and rate-dependent materials are considered. The material is characterized by von Mises yielding condition and an associated flow rule. For rate-independent materials, both the influence of crack speeds and that of strain hardening on the mechanics of steady dynamic crack growth are investigated. For rate-dependent materials, only a non-hardening material is considered with emphasis on determining the influence of viscous properties of materials and crack speeds. The influence of strain hardening on steady dynamic crack growth shows the same trends as for steady quasi-static crack growth. The simplifications used in the literature in deriving analytical solutions for high strain-rate crack growth have been examined thoroughly using the numerical results.     

Finite element analysis of mode III steady crack growth in anisotropic hardening materials

In this paper, the steady crack growth of mode III under small scale yielding conditions is investigated for anisotropic hardening materials by the finite element method. The elastic-plastic stiffness matrix for anisotropic materials is given. The results show the significant influences of anisotropic hardening behaviour on the shape and size of plastic zone and deformation field near the crack tip. With a COD fracture criterion, the ratio of stress intensity factorsk _ss/k_c varies appreciably with the anisotropic hardening parameterM and the hardening exponentN.     

Finite deformation analysis of crack-tip opening in elastic-plastic materials and implications for fracture

Analyses of the stress and strain fields around smoothly-blunting crack tips in both non-hardening and hardening elastic-plastic materials, under contained plane-strain yielding and subject to mode I opening loads, have been carried out by use of a finite element method suitably formulated to admit large geometry changes. The results include the crack-tip shape and near-tip deformation field, and the crack-tip opening displacement has been related to a parameter of the applied load, the J-integral. The hydrostatic stresses near the crack tip are limited due to the lack of constraint on the blunted tip, limiting achievable stress levels except in a very small region around the crack tip in power-law hardening materials. The J-integral is found to be path-independent except very close to the crack tip in the region affected by the blunted tip. Models for fracture are discussed in the light of these results including one based on the growth of voids. The rate of void-growth near the tip in hardening materials seems to be little different from the rate in non-hardening ones when measured in terms of crack-tip opening displacement, which leads to a prediction of higher toughness in hardening materials. It is suggested that improvement of this model would follow from better understanding of void-void and void-crack coalescence and void nucleation, and some criteria and models for these effects are discussed. The implications of the finite element results for fracture criteria based on critical stress or strain, or both, is discussed with respect to transition of fracture mode and the angle of initial crack-growth. Localization of flow is discussed as a possible fracture model and as a model for void-crack coalescence.     

VISCOPLASTIC SOLUTION TO FIELD AT STEADILY PROPAGATING CRACK TIP IN LINEAR- HARDENING MATERIALS

An elastic-viscoplastic constitutive model was adopted to analyze asymptotically the tip-field of moving crack in linear-hardening materials under plane strain condition. Under the assumption that the artificial viscosity coefficient was in inverse proportion to power law of the rate of effective plastic strain, it is obtained that stress and strain both possess power law singularity and the singularity exponent is uniquely determined by the power law exponent of the rate of effective plastic strain. Variations of zoning structure according to each material parameter were discussed by means of numerical computation for the tip-field of mode Ⅱ dynamic propagating crack, which show that the structure of crack tip field is dominated by hardening coefficient rather than viscosity coefficient. The secondary plastic zone can be ignored for weak hardening materials while the secondary plastic zone and the secondary elastic zone both have important influence on crack tip field for strong hardening materials. The dynamic solution approaches to the corresponding quasi-static solution when the crack moving speed goes to zero, and further approaches to the HR (Hui-Riedel) solution when the hardening coefficient is equal to zero.     

Mode-3 spontaneous crack propagation in symmetric functionally graded materials

The effects of spatially varying the material properties on the mode-3 planar crack propagation characteristics are numerically investigated. The spectral scheme that is available for homogeneous materials is modified to account for the symmetrically varying material properties. Crack propagation in hardening, softening and unsymmetric type of functionally graded have been simulated. A parametric study was performed by systematically varying the material inhomogeneity length scale. Our study indicated that softening and unsymmetric graded materials reduce the resistance to fracture, while a hardening material offers higher fracture resistance with increase in inhomogeneity. Only the transient phase of crack propagation speed was affected by the material property variation, irrespective of whether the material was hardening, softening or an unsymmetric type. The crack always reached a quasi-steady-state velocity, which remained unaffected by the material property inhomogeneity.     

考虑材料循环塑性的疲劳裂纹扩展模拟

提出了一种考虑材料循环塑性性能的研究疲劳裂纹扩展与闭合行为的有限元模拟方法．对所选用的循环塑性本构关系进行了基本实验检验．探讨了在疲劳裂纹扩展有限元分析中网格尺寸的影响，给出了网格优化准则．研究了在循环硬化条件下考虑裂纹合效应时裂纹面张开廓形、裂纹尖端应力、应变场和正反向塑性区的演变规律．对于循环硬化和不同循环应力比Ｒ等因素对裂纹张开应力水平的影响也作了考察     

Pseudo plane stress plastic field for mode I crack growth

The pseudo plane stress field for a mode I crack growth is analyzed for both perfectly plastic and power law hardening plastic materials. When finite strain is taken into account, it is found that for perfectly plastic materials, the plastic domain is a narrow strip ahead of the crack tip. For power law hardening plastic material, the plastic domain contains a strip and a region ahead of the strip. The fracture criterion is discussed. The energy dissipated in the plastic strip is found to be proportional to the square of the thickness. Singular solutions to the field are ruled out by analysis.     

Field structure at mode III dynamically propagating crack tip in elastic-viscoplastic materials

An elastic-viscoplastic mechanics model is used to investigate asymptotically the mode Ⅲ dynamically propagating crack tip field in elastic-viscoplastic materials. The stress and strain fields at the crack tip possess the same power-law singularity under a linear-hardening condition. The singularity exponent is uniquely determined by the viscosity coefficient of the material. Numerical results indicate that the motion parameter of the crack propagating speed has little effect on the zone structure at the crack tip. The hardening coefficient dominates the structure of the crack-tip field. However, the secondary plastic zone has little influence on the field. The viscosity of the material dominates the strength of stress and strain fields at the crack tip while it does have certain influence on the crack-tip field structure. The dynamic crack-tip field degenerates into the relevant quasi-static solution when the crack moving speed is zero. The corresponding perfectly-plastic solution is recovered from the linear-hardening solution when the hardening coefficient becomes zero.     

Asymptotic crack-tip fields for dynamic crack growth in compressive power-law hardening materials

The effect of material compressibility on the stress and strain fields for a mode-I crack propagating steadily in a power-law hardening material is investigated under plane strain conditions. The plastic deformation of materials is characterized by the J₂ flow theory within the framework of isotropic hardening and infinitesimal displacement gradient. The asymptotic solutions developed by the present authors [Zhu, X.K., Hwang K.C., 2002. Dynamic crack-tip field for tensile cracks propagating in power-law hardening materials. International Journal of Fracture 115, 323–342] for incompressible hardening materials are extended in this work to the compressible hardening materials. The results show that all stresses, strains, and particle velocities in the asymptotic fields are fully continuous and bounded without elastic unloading near the dynamic crack tip. The stress field contains two free parameters σ_eq0 and s₃₃₀ that cannot be determined in the asymptotic analysis, and can be determined from the full-field solutions. For the given values of σ_eq0 and s₃₃₀, all field quantities around the crack tip are determined through numerical integration, and then the effects of the hardening exponent n, the Poisson ratio ν, and the crack growth speed M on the asymptotic fields are studied. The approximate behaviors of the proposed solutions are discussed in the limit of ν → 0.5 or n → ∞.     

Field structure at mode Ⅲ dynamically propagating crack tip in elastic-viscoplastic materials

An elastic-viscoplastic mechanics model is used to investigate asymptotically the mode Ⅲ dynamically propagating crack tip field in elastic-viscoplastic materials. The stress and strain fields at the crack tip possess the same power-law singularity under a linear-hardening condition. The singularity exponent is uniquely determined by the viscosity coefficient of the material. Numerical results indicate that the motion parameter of the crack propagating speed has little effect on the zone structure at the crack tip. The hardening coefficient dominates the structure of the crack-tip field. However, the secondary plastic zone has little influence on the field. The viscosity of the material dominates the strength of stress and strain fields at the crack tip while it does have certain influence on the crack-tip field structure. The dynamic crack-tip field degenerates into the relevant quasi-static solution when the crack moving speed is zero. The corresponding perfectly-plastic solution is recovered from the linear-hardening solution when the hardening coefficient becomes zero.     

非常规态型近场动力学热黏塑性模型及其应用

在非常规态型近场动力学(non-ordinary state-based peridynamics, NOSB-PD) 理论框架下构建了考虑应变率效应、塑性硬化、热软化效应和材料断裂特征的非局部三维热黏塑性固体本构模型以及相应的非局部空间积分型数值算法, 并应用于金属类材料和构件在冲击载荷作用等工况下的高应变率热黏塑性变形与破坏分析. 通过对经典含初始裂纹Kalthoff-Winkler板冲击试验进行三维近场动力学模拟, 可得到裂纹的起裂角度、扩展路径、扩展速度以及裂纹扩展过程中靶板等效应力和温度分布, 所得结果与已有试验结果和其他数值方法结果吻合较好. 在此基础上, 应用该模型分析了不同冲击速度作用下金属靶板的变形与裂纹扩展过程, 结果表明: 该模型能较好地模拟不同冲击速度(应变率)情况下靶板的变形与破坏全过程. 随着冲击速度变化, 初始裂纹的起裂时间、扩展方向和扩展速度呈一定规律变化. 冲击速度越低, 起裂时间越晚(直至冲击速度低于某值时初始裂纹不扩展), 裂纹扩展速度峰值越低, 冲击过程中靶板温度峰值越低, 完全扩展所需时间越长.      

Effects of specimen thickness, hardening and crack closure for the plastic strip model

The triaxial stress constraint T_z and the effective yield stress distribution in the plastic zone for strain hardening materials are considered for the strip where the thickness effect is investigated by introducing a plastic constraint factor α. This factor depends on the specimen thickness, crack length, load level and hardening exponent. A simple expression of the plastic zone length and an expression involving α are obtained. Application of the strip model to crack closure shows that the specimen thickness has an influence and the results are compared with those found finite element.     

Asymptotic mechanical fields at the tip of a mode I crack in rubber-like solids

Asymptotic analyses of the mechanical fields in front of stationary and propagating cracks facilitate the understanding of the mechanical and physical state in front of crack tips, and they enable prediction of crack growth and failure. Furthermore, efficient modelling of arbitrary crack growth by use of XFEM (extended finite element method) requires accurate knowledge of the asymptotic crack tip fields. In the present work, we perform an asymptotic analysis of the mechanical fields in the vicinity of a propagating mode I crack in rubber. Plane deformation is assumed, and the material model is based on the Langevin function, which accounts for the finite extensibility of polymer chains. The Langevin function is approximated by a polynomial, and only the term of the highest order contributes to the asymptotic solution. The crack is predicted to adopt a wedge-like shape, i.e. the crack faces will be straight lines. The angle of the wedge and the order of the stress singularity depend on the hardening of the strain energy function. The present analysis shows that in materials with a significant hardening, the inertia term in the equations of motion becomes negligible in the asymptotic analysis. Hence, there is no upper theoretical limit to the crack speed.     

Analyses of steady quasistatic crack growth in plane strain tension in elastic-plastic materials with non-isotropic hardening

Steady state crack propagation problems of elastic-plastic materials in Mode I, plane strain under small scale yielding conditions were investigated with the aid of the finite element method. The elastic-perfectly plastic solution shows that elastic unloading wedges subtended by the crack tip in the plastic wake region do exist and that the stress state around the crack tip is similar to the modified Prandtl fan solution. To demonstrate the effects of a vertex on the yield surface, the small strain version of a phenomenological J₂, corner theory of plasticity (Christoffersen, J. and Hutchinson, J. W. J. Mech. Phys. Solids,27, 465 C 1979) with a power law stress strain relation was used to govern the strain hardening of the material. The results are compared with the conventional J₂ incremental plasticity solution. To take account of Bauschinger like effects caused by the stress history near the crack tip, a simple kinematic hardening rule with a bilinear stress strain relation was also studied. The results are again compared with the smooth yield surface isotropic hardening solution for the same stress strain curve. There appears to be more potential for steady state crack growth in the conventional J₂ incremental plasticity material than in the other two plasticity laws considered here if a crack opening displacement fracture criterion is used. However, a fracture criterion dependent on both stress and strain could lead to a contrary prediction.     

Effect of crack-tip shape on the near-tip field in glassy polymer

The physical nature of a crack tip is not absolutely sharp but blunt with finite curvature. In this paper, the effects of crack-tip shape on the stress and deformation fields ahead of blunted cracks in glassy polymers are numerically investigated under Mode I loading and small scale yielding conditions. An elastic–viscoplastic constitutive model accounting for the strain softening upon yield and then the subsequently strain hardening is adopted and two typical glassy polymers, one with strain hardening and the other with strain softening–rehardening are considered in analysis. It is shown that the profile of crack tip has obvious effect on the near-tip plastic field. The size of near-tip plastic zone reduces with the increase of curvature radius of crack tip, while the plastic strain rate and the stresses near crack tip enhance obviously for two typical polymers. Also, the plastic energy dissipation behavior near cracks with different curvatures is discussed for both materials.     

Fully plastic crack in an infinite body under anti-plane shear

The problem of a semi-infinite body with an edge crack subjected to far out-of-plane shear is solved by a transformation to a hodograph plane and the Wiener-Hopf technique. The material stress-strain behavior is governed by a pure power hardening relation and the results are valid for both deformation theory and flow theory of plasticity. Results are presented for crack opening displacement, path independent J integral and crack tip singularities for all finite values of the power hardening parameter.     

金属材料力学性能的辐照硬化效应

开展金属材料力学性能的辐照硬化研究对抗辐照材料的设计及工程应用具有重要意义. 材料辐照损伤效应主要包括材料原子移位产生的辐照缺陷以及由核反应产生的氢、氦等气体杂质对材料性能的影响. 金属材料的辐照效应主要包括辐照硬化、辐照脆化和辐照蠕变等. 该文主要综述在低温(T < 0.3 T_m, T_m 是材料的熔点温度) 和低辐照剂量下, 由原子移位损伤产生的辐照缺陷所导致的辐照硬化行为, 即受辐照缺陷的影响, 材料的强度会升高. 材料的晶粒尺寸、晶界以及温度等因素对多晶材料的辐照硬化具有重要影响. 金属材料力学性能的辐照硬化研究是个多尺度问题, 其宏观力学性能既取决于微观尺度上辐照缺陷导致晶粒内部结构的变化, 也取决于细观尺度上晶粒间的相互作用. 该文从实验结果、数值模拟和理论模型三方面综述金属材料力学性能的辐照硬化研究进展. 在此基础上, 展望了该领域中存在的主要科学问题.      

Localization of deformation and stress–strain relation for mesoscopic heterogeneous brittle rock materials under unloading

Stress redistribution induced by excavation of underground engineering and slope engineering results in the unloading zone in parts of surrounding rock masses. The mechanical behaviors of crack-weakened rock masses under unloading are different from those of crack-weakened rock masses under loading. A micromechanics-based model has been proposed for brittle rock material undergoing irreversible changes of their microscopic structures due to microcrack growth when axial stress is held constant while lateral confinement is reduced. The basic idea of the present model is to classify the constitution relation of rock material into four stages including some of the stages of linear elasticity, pre-peak nonlinear hardening, rapid stress drop, and strain softening, and to investigate their corresponding micromechanical damage mechanisms individually. Special attention is paid to the transition from structure rearrangements on microscale to the macroscopic inelastic strain, to the transition from distribution damage to localization of damage and the transition from homogeneous deformation to localization of deformation. The closed-form explicit expression for the complete stress–strain relation of rock materials containing cracks under unloading is obtained. The results show that the complete stress–strain relation and the strength of rock materials under unloading depend on the crack spacing, the fracture toughness of rock materials, orientation of the cracks, the crack half-length and the crack density parameter.     

金属玻璃在不同温度下应力晶化行为的分子动力学模拟研究

金属玻璃的晶化对提高其力学性能尤其是延展性有重要意义.除了温度效应,大量文献证实应力是导致晶化的重要原因.本文通过分子动力学模拟,研究了金属玻璃铜在温度和应力两种因素联合作用下的晶化行为,分别研究了温度和应力两种因素的贡献.结果表明晶化比例随温度和应变的增大而增大,应变硬化与晶化比例之间存在正相关关系,证实了金属玻璃的应变硬化一定程度上由晶化引起.