Crack front stability for a tunnel-crack propagating along its plane in mode 2+3Stabilité du front d'une fissure en forme de fente infinie se propageant dans son plan en mode 2+3

The authors recently studied stability of the straight configuration of the front of a tunnel-crack propagating along its plane in mixed mode 2+3 conditions. Coincidence of the extrema of the supposedly sinusoidal crack front perturbation and the energy release rate was assumed, which imposed a certain phase difference between the perturbations of the two parts of the front. The aim of this paper is to relax this constraint. The system is time-dependent so that the stability issue is prone to problems of definition. It is notably shown that for some appropriate definition of stability, certain perturbations develop “unstably” if their wavelength is larger than some critical value depending on mean crack width, Poisson's ratio and mode mixity. To cite this article: V. Lazarus, J.-B. Leblond, C. R. Mecanique 330 (2002) 437–443.     

Perturbation approaches of a planar crack in linear elastic fracture mechanics: A review

One current challenge of linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) is to take into account the non-linearities induced by the crack front deformations. For this, a suitable approach is the crack front perturbation method initiated by Rice (1985). It allows to update the stress intensity factors (SIFs) when the crack front of a planar crack is perturbed in its plane. This approach and its later extensions to more complex cases are recalled in this review. Applications concerning the deformation of the crack front when it propagates quasistatically in a homogeneous or heterogeneous media have been considered in brittle fracture, fatigue or subcritical propagation. The crack shapes corresponding to uniform SIF have been derived: cracks with straight or circular fronts, but also when bifurcations exist, with wavy front. For an initial straight crack, it has been shown that, in homogeneous media, in the quasistatic case, perturbations of all lengthscales progressively disappear unless disordered fracture properties yields Family and Vicsek (1985) roughness of the crack front. Extension of those perturbation approaches to more realistic geometries and to coalescence of cracks is also envisaged.     

In-plane perturbation of the tunnel-crack under shear loading II: Determination of the fundamental kernel

For any plane crack in an infinite isotropic elastic body subjected to some constant loading, Bueckner–Rice's weight function theory gives the variation of the stress intensity factors due to a small coplanar perturbation of the crack front. This variation involves the initial SIF, some geometry independent quantities and an integral extended over the front, the “fundamental kernel” of which is linked to the weight functions and thus depends on the geometry considered. The aim of this paper is to determine this fundamental kernel for the tunnel-crack. The component of this kernel linked to purely tensile loadings has been obtained by Leblond et al. [Int. J. Solids Struct. 33 (1996) 1995]; hence only shear loadings are considered here. The method consists in applying Bueckner–Rice's formula to some point-force loadings and special perturbations of the crack front which preserve the crack shape while modifying its size and orientation. This procedure yields integrodifferential equations on the components of the fundamental kernel. A Fourier transform in the direction of the crack front then yields ordinary differential equations, that are solved numerically prior to final Fourier inversion.     

Theoretical analysis of crack front instability in mode I+III

This paper focusses on the theoretical prediction of the widely observed crack front instability in mode I+III, that causes both the crack surface and crack front to deviate from planar and straight shapes, respectively. This problem is addressed within the classical framework of fracture mechanics, where the crack front evolution is governed by conditions of constant energy-release-rate (Griffith criterion) and vanishing stress intensity factor of mode II (principle of local symmetry) along the front. The formulation of the linear stability problem for the evolution of small perturbations of the crack front exploits previous results of Movchan et al. (1998) (suitably extended) and Gao and Rice (1986), which are used to derive expressions for the variations of the stress intensity factors along the front resulting from both in-plane and out-of-plane perturbations. We find exact eigenmode solutions to this problem, which correspond to perturbations of the crack front that are shaped as elliptic helices with their axis coinciding with the unperturbed straight front and an amplitude exponentially growing or decaying along the propagation direction. Exponential growth corresponding to unstable propagation occurs when the ratio of the unperturbed mode III to mode I stress intensity factors exceeds some “threshold” depending on Poisson's ratio. Moreover, the growth rate of helical perturbations is inversely proportional to their wavelength along the front. This growth rate therefore diverges when this wavelength goes to zero, which emphasizes the need for some “regularization” of crack propagation laws at very short scales. This divergence also reveals an interesting similarity between crack front instability in mode I+III and well-known growth front instabilities of interfaces governed by a Laplacian or diffusion field.     

Statistics of the deformation of the front of a tunnel-crack propagating in some inhomogeneous medium

We present a statistical analysis of some geometrical features of the front of a tensile tunnel-crack propagating quasistatically, according to some Paris-type law, in some elastic solid with spatially varying Paris constant. The work is based on an earlier formula of the authors, which provides the first-order change of the distribution of the mode I stress intensity factor along the front of a tunnel-crack, arising from some small but otherwise arbitrary in-plane perturbation of this front. The quantities studied include the power spectrum and the autocorrelation function of the deviation of the two parts of the front from reference straight lines, the autocorrelation function of the derivative of this deviation in the direction of the crack front, the mean squared fluctuation of the deviation, and its correlation distance. The various measures of the magnitude of the deviation of the front from straightness are all found to increase in time at a considerable rate, which means in some sense that the “wavyness” of the front continuously grows. However, the correlation distance of the deviation also increases, which mitigates the preceding conclusion, since it means in another sense that the crack front tends to “straighten back” in time. Also, comparisons are made with the cases of a semi-infinite crack propagating quasistatically or dynamically, using some results of Rice and coworkers for the latter case. The rate of growth of the various measures of the magnitude of the deviation from straightness is much larger for the tunnel-crack than for the semi-infinite one. This is because the finite width of the tunnel-crack induces a “destabilizing” effect of the straight configuration of the front for sinusoidal perturbations with large wavelengths, which is typical of such finite crack geometries.     

Perturbation of a dynamic planar crack moving in a model viscoelastic solid

Weight functions, which give stress intensity factors in terms of applied loading, are constructed, for three-dimensional time-dependent loading of a semi-infinite crack, propagating at uniform speed. Both a model problem, governed by a scalar wave equation, and the full vectorial problem for Mode I loading, are considered. The medium through which the crack propagates is viscoelastic; the approach is general but explicit formulae are given when the medium is a Maxwell fluid. The weight functions are exploited to develop formulae for the first-order perturbations of stress intensity factors when the crack edge is no longer straight but becomes slightly wavy. Implications for stability, and for “crack front waves” in the case of the Mode I problem, are discussed.     

First order Oore–Burns integral for nearly circular cracks under uniform tensile loading

In this paper, by means of the Oore–Burns weight function, we have obtained a general explicit equation for the Stress Intensity Factors (SIFs) of a nearly circular internal crack subjected to remotely uniform tensile stress. We have expanded the crack border in Fourier series and have derived an analytic solution for the SIF at any point on the front crack, in terms of the homotopic transformation of a disk. More precisely, we have given the first order approximation of the SIF in closed form. From a theoretical point of view, the proposed equation can only be used for a small deviation from the circle, however some tests on elliptical cracks have shown that the equation also works well for slender ellipses (up to a ratio of 0.4 between the two semi-axes). Finally, as an example, we have given a suitable explicit formula for SIF derived from general equations for triangular cracks and square-like cracks.     

The Stress Intensity Factor for an Elliptic Crack Under a Piecewise-Constant Load

A closed approximate solution is given for the stress intensity factor (SIF) at the front of an elliptic crack under uniform loading on the elliptic ring. The solution is constructed by modifying Rice's variational formula that integrally relates the SIFs for two different states on the crack faces. The first state is a combination of the second and principal states such that the total SIF is zero. In this case, Rice's formula reduces to the virtual-displacement principle for a combined loading on the crack faces.     

估算裂纹应力强度因子的新方法

根据裂纹形状与裂纹尖端应力强度因子分布之间的固有关系,在线弹性断 裂力学条件下,提出了一种按已知I型裂纹应力强度因子分布规律求裂纹形状及相应应力强 度因子的无梯度迭代法. 通过有限厚度、有限宽度板穿透裂纹和表面裂纹的数值模拟实例验 证了所提出方法的有效性和实用性,并对不同应力强度因子分布规律对裂纹形状以及相应的 应力强度因子大小的影响进行了分析和讨论. 所提出的方法有助于提高实际扩展裂纹应 力强度因子的估算精度以及更合理地预测疲劳裂纹形状演化.     

有限厚度板穿透裂纹前缘附近三维弹性应力场分析

通过三维有限元计算来研究有限宽度、有限厚度含有穿透裂纹板的裂纹前缘应力场，从中找出应力强度因子与板的厚度、裂纹长度之间的关系，同时还分析了裂尖的三维约束程度和三维约束区的大小。分析结果表明：应力强度因子沿厚度的分布是不均匀的，应力强度因子的最大值及其位置与厚度有关；有限厚度板中面应力强度因子(KI)m-p及最大应力强度因子(KI)max均大于平面应力或平面应变的应力强度因子。对有限厚度裂纹问题，按平面应力或平面应变来考虑是不安全的；板中面的应力强度因子(KI)m-p及最大应力强度因子(KI)max是厚度B／a的函数；板的中面离面约束系数Tx最大，自由面(z=B)Tx=0。沿厚度方向裂尖附近的离面约束系数Tx也是z／B和B／a的函数，随着厚度的增加离面约束系数Tx增大，离中面越近离面约束系数Tx越大。Tx随着x的增大急剧减小，三维约束影响区域大小大约为板厚的一半，且裂纹长度a／W对应力强度因子沿厚度变化规律及Tx影响区域大小影响较小。     

柱形汇聚几何中内爆驱动金属界面不稳定性

采用自研的高保真度爆轰与冲击动力学程序,对柱形汇聚几何中内爆驱动金属材料界面不稳定性的动力学行为,进行了数值模拟研究。结果表明,首次冲击后至约12 μs,界面发展以RM（Richtmyer-Meshkov）不稳定性为主;12 μs后至冲击波聚心反弹加载前,界面聚心运动处于加速减速状态,界面发展由RT (Rayleigh-Taylor)不稳定性主导;冲击波聚心反弹加载后,界面发展又由RM不稳定性主导。另外,还研究了初始条件（初始振幅、初始波长、钢壳初始厚度和几何构型）对柱形内爆驱动金属材料界面不稳定性的影响。结果显示:初始振幅较大时振幅增长也较大;初始波长较小（模数较大）时振幅增长较小,而且存在一个截止波长;钢壳厚度会抑制扰动增长,也存在一个截止厚度;几何汇聚效应会使扰动增长速度更快。     

Variation in stress-intensity factor and back-surface displacement for surface cracks

Knowledge of the magnitude and variation in the stress-intensity factor (SIF) around the perimeter of a surface crack is essential for an accurate analysis of a flawed component. SIFs for surface flaws of various semi-elliptical geometries were analytically determined. Three-dimensional linear-elastic finite-element analysis was performed to determine the maximum SIF for bending and tension for each of 12 crack geometries which represent deep surface flaws in finite-thickness plates. Experimental verification of one of the crack geometries was performed. Interferometry techniques were used to determine the actual variation in SIF along the curve crack front due to bending. In addition to the SIF calculations, physical characteristics are noted as observed in the analytical and experimental evaluations.     

表面裂纹疲劳扩展的数值模拟

建立了一种无形状约束的模拟表面裂纹在线弹性断裂力学条件下疲劳扩展的数值方法,并研究了表面疲劳裂纹形状演化和裂纹尖端应力强度因子(SIF)的分布特征。该方法以三维有限单元技术和Paris疲劳裂纹扩展规律为基础,并在裂纹扩展增量计算中考虑了裂纹闭合影响。本文第一部分主要介绍模拟三维疲劳裂纹扩展的数值方法的理论背景和相关的技术细节。着重分析和讨论基于三维有限单元法计算裂纹SIF所涉及的几个主要问题:裂纹尖端单元网格密度对估算精度的影响;自由表面的影响及其修正方法;裂纹尖端非正交单元网格的影响及修正方法。     

Brittle fracture dynamics with arbitrary paths III. The branching instability under general loading

The dynamic propagation of a bifurcated crack under arbitrary loading is studied. Under plane loading configurations, it is shown that the model problem of the determination of the dynamic stress intensity factors after branching is similar to the anti-plane crack branching problem. By analogy with the exact results of the mode III case, the energy release rate immediately after branching under plane situations is expected to be maximized when the branches start to propagate quasi-statically. Therefore, the branching of a single propagating crack under mode I loading should be energetically possible when its speed exceeds a threshold value. The critical velocity for branching of the initial single crack depends only weakly on the criterion applied for selecting the paths followed by the branches. However, the principle of local symmetry imposes a branching angle which is larger than the one given by the maximum energy release rate criterion. Finally, it is shown that an increasing fracture energy with the velocity results in a decrease in the critical velocity at which branching is energetically possible.     

Mode III stress intensity factors for edge-cracked circular shafts,bonded wedges,bonded half planes and DCB’s

Antiplane shear deformation of several edge-cracked geometries is considered. Analytical expressions are derived for the mode III stress intensity factor (SIF) of circular shafts with edge cracks, bonded half planes containing an interfacial edge crack, bonded wedges with an interfacial edge crack and also DCB’s. The results are extracted for simple isotropic materials as well as anisotropic materials and also bonded dissimilar materials and it is shown that the same expressions are obtained for the SIF under the same geometries but with different above-mentioned material properties. Different boundary conditions are assumed and the SIF relations are derived in each case. As the special cases, the SIF’s of the two bonded quarter planes containing an edge crack at the interface and infinite strip with a semi-infinite edge crack are extracted which coincide with the results cited in the literature.     

Response of critical tube diameter phenomenon to small perturbations for gaseous detonations

In this experimental study, the critical tube diameter phenomenon of gaseous detonations is investigated in both stable and unstable mixtures with focus on the failure mechanism. It was previously postulated that in unstable mixtures, where the cellular detonation front is highly irregular, the failure is caused by the suppression of local re-initiation centers linked to the dynamics of instabilities. In stable mixtures, typically with high argon dilution, the detonation structure is very regular and the failure mode is attributed to the excessive curvature of the global front. In order to differentiate between these two failure mechanisms, flow perturbations are introduced by placing an obstacle resulting in a minimal blockage ratio of approximately 8 %. The obstacle is placed at the tube exit, before the detonation diffraction. Results show that the perturbations caused by the obstacle only have an effect on undiluted (i.e., unstable) mixtures, causing a decrease in the minimum initial pressure required for successful detonation transmission. This thus demonstrates that local hydrodynamic instabilities play an important role for the critical tube diameter phenomenon in undiluted, unstable mixtures. In contrast, the results for the stable, argon-diluted mixture exhibit little variation in critical initial pressure between the perturbed and unperturbed cases. This can be attributed to the minimal effect of the perturbations on global curvature for the emergent detonation wave. The geometry of the perturbation is also tested, while holding the blockage area constant, by varying the number and position of the obstacle(s). The results demonstrate that the transmission of a detonation is independent of the blockage geometry and is only a function of its imposed blockage area. Consequently, the change in required minimum pressure for transmission shows an identical behavior in unstable mixtures for different perturbation geometries while the transmission characteristics of the stable mixture remain unaffected.     

The growth simulation of circular buckling-driven delamination

Some closed-form equations for the coupling problem of buckling and growth of circular delamination are derived by recourse to the moving boundary variational principle. The axisymmetric buckling of a circular delamination subjected to an equal bi-axial compression is analysed by using high-order perturbation expansion. The axisymmetric buckled delamination has the following properties : under a certain residual pressure, there exist two characteristic radii, namely the critical radius R_c and growing radius R_g; for a certain interface toughness, the blister has three configuration of stationary, stable growth and unstable growth with increasing the loads. Under a higher edge thrust, the nonaxisymmetric secondary buckling will occur on the base of axisymmetric buckling and then the toughness and the driving force of the interface crack will be different along the delamination front. So the growth of circular delamination will not be self-similar. Without any assumption regarding the delamination front, the configurations of the blister with several nonaxisymmetric buckling modes n = 2, 3, 6, 8 are simulated. The nonaxisymmetric growth process for the nonaxisymmetric buckling mode n = 2 is simulated also under a sequence of loads.     

In-plane perturbation of a system of two coplanar slit-cracks – I: Case of arbitrarily spaced crack fronts

In order to lay the grounds for a future study of the deformation of the fronts of coplanar cracks during their final coalescence, we consider the model problem of a system of two coplanar, parallel, identical slit-cracks loaded in mode I in some infinite body. The first, necessary task is to determine the distribution of the stress intensity factors along the crack fronts resulting from some small but otherwise arbitrary in-plane perturbation of these fronts. This is done here in the case where the distances between the various crack fronts are arbitrary and fixed.The first order expression of the local variation of the stress intensity factor is provided by a general formula of Rice (1989) in terms of some “fundamental kernel” tied to the mode I crack face weight function. In the specific case considered, this fundamental kernel reduces to six unknown functions; the problem is to determine them. This is done by using another formula of Rice (1989) which provides the variation of the fundamental kernel in a similar way. This second formula is applied to special perturbations of the crack fronts preserving the shape and relative dimensions of the cracks while modifying their absolute size and orientation. The output of this procedure consists of nonlinear integro-differential equations on the functions looked for, which are transformed into nonlinear ordinary differential equations through Fourier transform in the direction of the crack fronts, and then solved numerically.     

Onset of convection in a couple-stress fluid-saturated porous medium: effects of non-uniform temperature gradients

Onset of convection in a layer of couple-stress fluid-saturated porous medium is investigated for different types of basic temperature gradients. The boundaries are considered to be adiabatically insulated to temperature perturbations. The eigenvalue equations of the perturbed state obtained from the normal mode analysis are solved analytically using a regular perturbation technique with wave number as a perturbation parameter and also numerically using the Galerkin technique. The critical stability parameters obtained from these two techniques are in excellent agreement and an increase in the value of couple-stress parameter is found to delay the onset of convection. The results also indicate that the piecewise linear temperature profile hastens the onset of convection when compared to linear, parabolic, and inverted parabolic temperature profiles. In addition, the influence of thermal depth on the critical conditions is assessed in the case of piecewise linear temperature profiles, and it is observed that the critical thermal depth decreases marginally with an increase in the couple-stress parameter.     

A domain-independent integral for computation of stress intensity factors along three-dimensional crack fronts and edges by BEM

The present work deals with an evaluation of stress intensity factors (SIFs) along straight crack fronts and edges in three-dimensional isotropic elastic solids. A new numerical approach is developed for extraction, from a solution obtained by the boundary element method (BEM), of those SIFs, which are relevant for a failure assessment of mechanical components. In particular, the generalized SIFs associated to eigensolutions characterized by unbounded stresses at a neighbourhood of the crack front or a reentrant edge and also that associated to T-stress at the crack front can be extracted. The method introduced is based on a conservation integral, called H-integral, which leads to a new domain-independent integral represented by a scalar product of the SIF times some element shape function defined along the crack front or edge. For sufficiently small element lengths these weighted averages of SIFs give reasonable pointwise estimation of the SIFs. A proof of the domain integral independency, based on the bi-orthogonality of the classical two-dimensional eigensolutions associated to a corner problem, is presented. Numerical solutions of two three-dimensional problems, a crack problem and a reentrant edge problem, are presented, the accuracy and convergence of the new approach for SIF extraction being analysed.