Mechanical modelling of ductile fracture

Mechanical models of material failure by void growth to coalescence are described to give a brief overview of methods applied in the analysis of ductile fracture. Approximate constitutive relations for porous ductile materials are discussed, modelling both the nucleation and growth of voids. The application of the material models is illustrated by numerical analyses for a tensile test specimen and for dynamic, ductile crack growth. Unstable void growth is a relevant mechanism in ductile materials subject to a high level of triaxial tension. The analysis of such cavitation instabilities in elastic-perfectly plastic materials is discussed for axisymmetric stress states, and the relevance to metal/ceramic components is emphasized.General Lecture presented at the 10th Italian National Congress of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics; AIMETA, Pisa, October 1990.     

汽轮机转子材料的蠕变损伤与抗裂特性研究

本文对汽轮机转子材料进行了蠕变断裂的试验研究。探讨了30Cr_2MoV材料在工作温度下的蠕变损伤及裂纹的启裂和高温断裂韧性特性.用直流电位法检测了裂纹的扩展量,并分析了各断裂参数和蠕变裂纹扩展速率的关系.     

Stochastic modelling of crack growth based on damage accumulation

The growth rate of a fatigue crack is modelled from a damage accumulation standpoint. The material ahead of the crack-tip is considered to be composed of assembly of uniaxial fatigue elements which accumulate damage per load cycle. Each element is subjected to increased levels of stress and strain ranges as the crack propagates. A linearly accumulated damage criterion is assumed, and failure of an element indicates a void initiation at its position. Both deterministic and stochastic analyses are included. The historical damage of the material before it reaches the crack tip vicinity is quantified and is shown to be significant for the first few elements. The predicted results agree fairly well with the experimental data.     

Delamination of an elastic film from an elastic–plastic substrate during adhesive contact loading and unloading

Adhesive contact between a rigid sphere and an elastic film on an elastic–perfectly plastic substrate was examined in the context of finite element simulation results. Surface adhesion was modeled by nonlinear springs obeying a force-displacement relationship governed by the Lennard–Jones potential. A bilinear cohesive zone law with prescribed cohesive strength and work of adhesion was used to simulate crack initiation and growth at the film/substrate interface. It is shown that the unloading response consists of five sequential stages: elastic recovery, interface damage (crack) initiation, damage evolution (delamination), film elastic bending, and abrupt surface separation (jump-out), with plastic deformation in the substrate occurring only during damage initiation. Substrate plasticity produces partial closure of the cohesive zone upon full unloading (jump-out), residual tensile stresses at the front of the crack tip, and irreversible downward bending of the elastic film. Finite element simulations illustrate the effects of minimum surface separation (i.e., maximum compressive surface force), work of adhesion and cohesive strength of the film/substrate interface, substrate yield strength, and initial crack size on the evolution of the surface force, residual deflection of the elastic film, film-substrate separation (debonding), crack-tip opening displacement, and contact instabilities (jump-in and jump-out) during a full load–unload cycle. The results of this study provide insight into the interdependence of contact instabilities and interfacial damage (cracking) encountered in layered media during adhesive contact loading and unloading.     

Effects of microscale inertia on dynamic ductile crack growth

The aim of this paper is to investigate the role of microscale inertia in dynamic ductile crack growth. A constitutive model for porous solids that accounts for dynamic effects due to void growth is proposed. The model has been implemented in a finite element code and simulations of crack growth in a notched bar and in an edge cracked specimen have been performed. Results are compared to predictions obtained via the Gurson–Tvergaard–Needleman (GTN) model where micro-inertia effects are not accounted for. It is found that microscale inertia has a significant influence on the crack growth. In particular, it is shown that micro-inertia plays an important role during the strain localisation process by impeding void growth. Therefore, the resulting damage accumulation occurs in a more progressive manner. For this reason, simulations based on the proposed modelling exhibit much less mesh sensitivity than those based on the viscoplastic GTN model. Microscale inertia is also found to lead to lower crack speeds. Effects of micro-inertia on fracture toughness are evaluated.     

Strain energy density prediction of crack initiation and direction in cracked T-beams and pipes

In this paper, the S-theory is applied to determine crack initiation and direction for cracked T-beams and circumferentially cracked pipes. It makes use of a parameter called strain energy density factor, S, which is a function of the stress intensity factors. The strain energy density theory provides a more general treatment of fracture mechanics problems by virtue of its ability in describing the multiscale feature of material damage and in dealing with mixed mode crack propagation problem. A simple method for obtaining approximate stress intensity factors is also applied. It takes into account the elastic crack tip stress singularity while using the elementary beam theory. Some basic loading conditions in beams and pipes are studied.     

Modeling of fatigue crack growth from a notch

When a fatigue crack is nucleated and propagates into the vicinity of the notch, the crack growth rate is generally higher than that can be expected by using the stress intensity factor concept. The current study attempted to describe the crack growth at notches quantitatively with a detailed consideration of the cyclic plasticity of the material. An elastic–plastic finite element analysis was conducted to obtain the stress and strain histories of the notched component. A single multiaxial fatigue criterion was used to determine the crack initiation from the notch and the subsequent crack growth. Round compact specimens made of 1070 steel were subjected to Mode I cyclic loading with different R-ratios at room temperature. The approach developed was able to quantitatively capture the crack growth behavior near the notch. When the R-ratio was positive, the crack growth near a notch was mainly influenced by the plasticity created by the notch and the resulted fatigue damage during crack initiation. When the R-ratio was negative, the contact of the cracked surfaces during a part of a loading cycle reduced the cyclic plasticity of the material near the crack tip. The combined effect of notch plasticity and possible contact of cracked surface were responsible for the observed crack growth phenomenon near a notch.     

A STATISTICAL INVESTIGATION OF FATIGUE CRACK INITIATION AND GROWTH PROCESS BASED UPON A LARGE SAMPLE SIZE EXPERIMENT

After finishing 102 replicate constant amplitude crack initiation and growth tests onLyl2-CZ aluminum alloy plate,a statistical investigation of the fatigue crack initiation and growthprocess is conducted in this paper.According to the post-mortem fractographic examination by scan-ning electron microscopy (SEM),some qualitative observations of the spacial correlation among fa-tigue striations are developed to reveal the statistical nature of material intrinsic inhomogeneity duringthe crack growth process.From the test data,an engineering division between crack initiation andgrowth is defined as the upper limit of small crack.The distributions of crack initiation life N.,growthlife N,and the statistical characteristics of crack growth rate da/dN are also investigated.It is hopedthat the work will provide a solid test basis for the study of probabilistic fatigue,probabilistic fracturemechanics,fatigue reliability and its engineering applications.     

Multiscale evaluation of microstructural worthiness based on the physical–analytical matching (PAM) approach

By selecting the appropriate spatial and temporal variables, physical abnormalities at the microscale can be limited to the essentials such that effective analytical solutions can be made available and identified with high resolution TEM and SEM micrographs. A catalogue of physical–analytical pairs can be stored electronically for the evolution of material damage from micro (or nano) up to macroscopic failure. High speed digital processing can organize such information and make forecast on potential failure in the cyberspace. The micro/macro line cracking model is used to illustrate the use of the PAM (physical–analytical matching) technique although it is still at the early stage of development. Three essential parameters describing the inhomogeneity of the material serve as the basis of the approach while specific microstructural details can be accounted for by using the incidental variables as programmed by PAM in the future. Demonstration is made by using the dual scale micro/macro line crack model where closed form asymptotic solution can be obtained from singularity representation. No generality is lost from the line crack configuration. This is analogous to taking the shape of an atom to be spherical since the exact shape is not relevant. The essential quantities are the energy density and characteristic length associated with the equivalent crack length defined with reference to the spatial and temporal variables under consideration.For a macroscopic tensile specimen containing a micro/macrocrack, multiple microcracking patterns are generated. A priori assumptions related to the grain geometries and/or cohesive force laws to create branching will not be made. Instead, values of the essential parameters are selected to obtain multiple minima of the volume energy density functions. These minima are very closely spaced. This implies that the initiation of multiple microcracking is probable even though dynamic effects are not present. This is in contrast to macrocrack branching where the crack velocity had to approach that of the Rayleigh wave speed. The formulation also shows that empirical approach blind folds the details of microscopic and scaling effects. The double singularity line crack model is used to illustrate that different multiple microcracking patterns can be predicted from the volume energy density fracture criterion that has been used extensively for examining the initiation of macrocracking. The criterion relies on identifying the locations of the stationary values of the energy density function with the potential threshold sites dominated by dilatation or distortion without assuming that the two energy density components are the linear sum, a condition invoked in linear elasticity. To reiterate, three essential parameters are defined to describe the non-homogeneous behavior of the material while two incidental variables are used for the double singularity line crack to account for specific microstructural effects. It is the ease with which asymptotic closed form solution can be obtained and identified with observed damage patterns that suggests the possibility to develop the PAM technique in the cyberspace.     

Effect of strain rate on crack growth in aluminum alloy 1100-0

Stress and damage analysis are performed to analyze the Mode I crack growth behavior of a central crack panel made of aluminum alloy 1100-0. On account of the highly nonhomogeneous stress state, each material element would experience a different strain rate depending on the location and loading rate. A data bank of uniaxial stress and strain curves is provided to cover the range local strain rates depending on the load time history. Such a approach is referred to as the strain rate dependent model in contrast to plasticity that utilizes a single constitutive relation.The strain energy density criterion is applied to determine the onset of crack initiation, stable crack growth and final termination. A unique feature of the approach is that the same criterion could describe the foregoing three distinct events of fracture behavior. Results are obtained for applied loads with different strain rates and compared with those obtained from the classical theory of plasticity, which is unconservative.     

疲劳裂纹形成、扩展统计特性的大子样试验研究

针对疲劳损伤过程的随机性，该文开展了等幅谱大子样疲劳裂纹形成、扩展至破坏全寿命过程的试验研究．在计算确立了裂纹形成、扩展分界工程小裂纹长度的基础上，整理得到了裂纹形成，扩展寿命的统计分布数据．根据断口金相ＳＥＭ观察，进一步定性分析了疲劳条纹分布的相关性特征．     

A damage model for crack initiation and growth

A damage accumulation model is presented for the study of the problem of crack initiation and stable growth in an elastic-plastic material. A centre-cracked specimen subjected to a uniform stress perpendicular to the crack plane is considered. A coupled stress and failure analysis is performed by using a finite element computer program based on J₂-plasticity theory in conjunction with the strain energy density theory. After initial yielding, each material element follows a different equivalent uniaxial stress-strain behavior depending on the amount of energy dissipation by permanent deformation. A host of uniaxial stress-strain curves constituting parts of the same stress-strain curve were assigned to material elements for each increment of loading. The path-dependent nature of the onset of crack initiation and growth was revealed. The proposed model predicts faster crack growth rates than those obtained on the basis of a single uniaxial stress-strain curve and is closer to experimental observation.     

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.     

Onset of macroscopic instabilities in fiber-reinforced elastomers at finite strain

In this paper, we investigate theoretically the possible development of instabilities in fiber-reinforced elastomers (and other soft materials) when they are subjected to finite-strain loading conditions. We focus on the physically relevant class of “macroscopic” instabilities, i.e., instabilities with wavelengths that are much larger than the characteristic size of the underlying microstructure. To this end, we make use of recently developed homogenization estimates, together with a fundamental result of Geymonat, Müller and Triantafyllidis linking the development of these instabilities to the loss of strong ellipticity of the homogenized constitutive relations. For the important class of material systems with very stiff fibers and random microstructures, we derive a closed-form formula for the critical macroscopic deformation at which instabilities may develop under general loading conditions, and we show that this critical deformation is quite sensitive to the loading orientation relative to the fiber direction. The result is also confronted with classical estimates (including those of Rosen) for laminates, which have commonly been used as two-dimensional (2-D) approximations for actual fiber-reinforced composites. We find that while predictions based on laminate models are qualitatively correct for certain loadings, they can be significantly off for other more general 3-D loadings. Finally, we provide a parametric analysis of the effects of the matrix and fiber properties and of the fiber volume fraction on the onset of instabilities for various loading conditions.     

A cohesive plastic and damage zone model for dynamic crack growth in rate-dependent materials

Mode I steady-state dynamic crack growth in rate-dependent viscoplastic solids containing damage, under small scale yielding conditions, is analyzed based on a modified cohesive zone model. A multi-scale approach is used to describe the entire non-linear zone consisting of a plastic region and a damage region, each of which has its own constitutive law. Traction in the damage region is characterized by a softening power-law, in terms of the ultimate strength, a softening index and a rate sensitivity factor. In the plastic region, the cohesive law is assumed to be both strain hardening and rate dependent. The critical crack opening displacement at the physical crack-tip controls crack growth. The governing integral equations are derived and solved by a collocation method combined with associated boundary conditions. Numerical results are presented for the traction and opening profiles along the cohesive zone, the fracture energy and lengths of the damage and non-linear zones at different crack speeds and for different material parameters. The importance of factors, such as material softening, plastic deformation, crack speed and viscosity, is identified by parametric studies. In addition, the competition of plastic flow and material damage, and its effect on crack growth, are discussed.     

基于近场动力学理论的准脆性材料的本构力函数的构建

近场动力学理论(PD)是基于非局部思想的连续介质力学新理论,用于研究材料破坏问题。根据准脆性材料破坏的线性和非线性的力学行为,在初始微观弹脆性材料(PMB)的本构力函数中引入了键的损伤模型,将键的断裂过程分成了线性的弹性变形阶段和非线性的损伤变形阶段,以此构建了准脆性材料的本构力函数的基本形式。以典型的准脆性材料为例构建了其本构力函数,通过在压缩载荷下对含预制不同角度单裂纹缺陷的类岩材料的裂纹扩展进行PD数值模拟仿真,裂纹起裂位置和扩展方向与试样试验结果在一定程度上保持了一致,证明了该基于近场动力学理论的典型准脆性材料的本构力函数可用于该类材料的破坏分析。     

冻融循环对含纯Ⅰ型裂隙围岩的动态起裂特性影响规律

以寒区隧道为工程背景研究在冻融循环作用下围岩内Ⅰ型裂纹的动态起裂特性演化规律,采用隧道模型试件作为研究对象,开展冻融循环试验与大尺度落锤冲击试验,得到岩石试件经历不同冻融循环次数后的相关力学参数,并在裂纹尖端粘贴裂纹扩展计(crack propagation gauge, CPG)测量预制裂纹的动态起裂时间。采用有限元软件建立相应的数值模型计算裂纹尖端的动态应力强度因子,采用试验-数值法计算动态起裂韧度,随后采用电镜对冻融循环后的试样进行扫描,研究冻融循环对岩石材料的细观损伤机制。研究结果表明:随着冻融循环次数的增加,岩石材料的纵波、横波波速与弹性模量逐渐减小,而泊松比逐渐增大;砂岩材料的动态起裂韧度随着冻融循环次数的增加逐渐减小,表征线性反比例的特性;材料内部的胶结物质会由于冻融循环的影响而流失,材料的孔隙和裂纹也随着冻融循环次数的增加而变多变大。     

The stress concentration near a rigid line inclusion in a prestressed, elastic material. Part II.: Implications on shear band nucleation, growth and energy release rate

The full-field and asymptotic solutions derived in Part I of this article (for a lamellar rigid inclusion, embedded in a uniformly prestressed, incompressible and orthotropic elastic sheet, subject to a far-field deformation increment) are employed to analyse shear band formation, as promoted by the near-tip stress singularity. Since these solutions involve the prestress as a parameter, stress and deformation fields can be investigated near the boundary of ellipticity loss (but still within the elliptic range). In the vicinity of this boundary, the incremental stress and displacement fields evidence localized deformations with patterns organized into shear bands, evidencing inclinations corresponding to those predicted at ellipticity loss. These localized deformation patterns are shown to explain experimental results on highly deformed soft materials containing thin, stiff inclusions. Finally, the incremental energy release rate and incremental J-integral are derived, related to a reduction (or growth) of the stiffener. It is shown that this is always positive (or negative), but tends to zero approaching the Ellipticity boundary, which implies that reduction of the lamellar inclusion dies out and, simultaneously, shear bands develop.