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.     

Transient crack growth under creep conditions

Transient crack growth in an elastic/power-law creeping material is investigated under antiplane shear loading and small-scale-yielding conditions. At time t = 0 the solid is suddenly loaded far from the crack by tractions that correspond to the elastic crack-tip stress distribution. At that time the crack begins to propagate at a constant velocity. The stress fields evolve in a complex manner as the crack propagates due to the competing effects of stress relaxation due to constrained creep and stress elevation due to the instantaneous elastic material response to crack growth. From detailed finite element calculations it is shown that these fields can be approximated by a simple matching of three asymptotic singular crack-tip solutions. A characteristic stress, distance and time are defined for this problem which provide a normalization that accounts for any crack velocity, loading and all material properties for a given creep exponent n. Results are presented for crack-tip stresses, strains, crack opening displacements and creep zones.     

On fatigue crack growth in ductile materials by crack-tip blunting

One of the basic mechanisms for fatigue crack growth in ductile metals is that depending on crack-tip blunting under tensile loads and re-sharpening of the crack-tip during unloading. In a standard numerical analysis accounting for finite strains it is not possible to follow this process during many cycles, as severe mesh distortion at the crack-tip results from the huge geometry changes developing during the cyclic plastic straining. In the present numerical studies, based on an elastic-perfectly plastic material model, crack growth computations are continued up to 200 full cycles by using remeshing at several stages of the plastic deformation. Three different values of the load ratio R=K_min/K_max are considered. It is shown that the crack-tip opening displacement, CTOD, typically undergoes a transient behaviour, with no crack closure during many cycles, before a steady-state cycling with crack closure at the tip starts to gradually develop.     

A finite element study of the near crack tip deformation of a ductile material under mixed mode loading

In ductile fracture, voids near a crack tip play an important role. From this point of view, a large deformation finite element analysis has been made to study the deformation, stress and strain, and void ratio near the crack tip under mixed mode plane strain loading conditions, employing Gurson's constitutive equation which has taken into account the effects of void nucleation and growth. The results show that: (i) one corner of the crack tip sharpens while the other corner blunts, (ii) the stress and strain distributions except for the near crack tip region, can be superimposed by normalizing distance from the crack tip by a crack tip deformation length, i.e., a steady-state solution under a mixed mode condition has been obtained, (iii) the field near a crack tip can be divided into four characteristic fields (K field, HRR field, blunted crack tip field, and damaged region), and (iv) the strain and void volume fraction become concentrated in the sharpened part of a crack tip with increasing Mode II component.     

Role of elasticity in elastic–plastic fracture: Analytical bi-linear crack-tip fields and finite element analysis

A solution for Model-I plane strain crack tip fields in a bi-linear elastic–plastic material is presented. The elastic–plastic Poisson's ratio is introduced to characterize the influence of elastic deformation on the near tip constraint. Attention is focused on the distribution of elastic/plastic strain energy in the sensitive region of the forward sector ahead of a crack tip. The present study shows that the elastic strain energy can be higher than the plastic strain energy in this sensitive sector while large amount of the plastic strain energy develops outside this sector around the crack tip. The effect of elastic deformation in this sensitive region on the structure of crack-tip fields is considerable and the assumption in some important solutions for crack-tip fields reported in literature that the elastic deformation is small and can be ignored is therefore not physically reasonable. Besides, finite element analysis is carried out to validate the analytical solution and good agreement between them is found. It is seen that the present solution with T-stress can properly describe the crack-tip fields under various constraints for different specimens and an analytical relation is established between the critical value of J-integral, J_c, and T-stress for elastic–plastic fracture.     

高温结构蠕变裂尖拘束效应

如何对蠕变裂纹扩展寿命进行准确预测和评价是高温结构完整性评定、寿命设计和运行维护中需要解决的核心问题.基于宏观单参数C?的蠕变断裂行为的评价方法,未有效纳入裂尖拘束效应的影响,因而其评价结果过于保守或非保守.目前国内外还未建立起有效纳入裂尖拘束效应的高温结构蠕变寿命评价的理论体系和技术方法,还没有纳入蠕变拘束效应的高温结构完整性评定规范.本文综述了作者近年来在高温蠕变断裂拘束效应方面的研究工作.主要包括:裂尖拘束对材料蠕变裂纹扩展行为的影响及机理;蠕变裂尖场和拘束参数R的定义和影响因素;载荷无关的蠕变拘束参数R? 的提出及其应用基础;承压管道表面裂纹的拘束参数R? 解及纳入裂尖拘束的蠕变寿命评价方法;试样与管道轴向裂纹蠕变裂尖拘束的关联;基于裂尖等效蠕变应变的面内与面外蠕变裂尖拘束的统一表征参数Ac的研究;材料拘束相关的蠕变裂纹扩展速率的建立;宽范围C? 区蠕变裂纹扩展速率及其拘束效应的数值预测;材料拘束对焊接接头蠕变裂纹扩展行为的影响及机理等.这些研究为建立纳入裂尖拘束效应的高温部件的蠕变裂纹扩展寿命评价方法奠定了理论和技术基础.论文对后续拟开展的工作也进行了展望.     

A centrally cracked thin circular disk, Part I: 3D Elastic–plastic finite element analysis

A full field solution, based on small deformation, three-dimensional elastic–plastic finite element analysis of the centrally cracked thin disk under mode I loading has been performed. The solution for the stresses under small-scale yielding and lo!cally fully plastic state has been compared with the HRR plane stress solution. At the outside of the 3D zone, within a distance of rσ_o/J=18, HRR dominance is maintained in the presence of a significant amount of compressive stress along the crack flanks. Ahead of this region, the HRR field overestimate the stresses. These results demonstrate a completely reversed state of stress in the near crack front compared to that in the plane strain case. The combined effect of geometry and finite thickness of the specimen on elastic–plastic crack tip stress field has been explored. To the best of our knowledge, such an attempt in the published literature has not been made yet. For the qualitative assessment of the results some of the field parameters have been compared to the available experimental results of K, gives a fair estimate of the crack opening stress near the crack front at a distance of order 10⁻² in. On the basis of this analysis, the Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics approach has been adopted in analyzing the fatigue crack extension experiments performed in the disk (Part II).     

Continuing crack-tip deformation and fracture for plane-strain crack growth in elastic-plastic solids

Analysis of the deformation field consistent with a Prandtl stress distribution travelling with an advancing plane-strain crack reveals the functional form of the near tip crack profile in an elastic-plastic solid. The crack opening δ is shown to have the form δ ～ r In (const./r) at a distance r from the tip. This observation coupled with data generated from finite element investigations of growing cracks in small-scale yielding permits the construction of a relation characterizing the deformation at an extending crack tip. A ductile crack-growth criterion consisting of the attainment of a critical opening at a small characteristic material distance from the tip is adopted. Predictions of the stability of a growing crack for both small-scale yielding specimens and those subject to general yielding are discussed.     

Effect of specimen size and crack depth on 3D crack-front constraint for SENB specimens

Three-dimensional (3D) elastic–plastic finite element analyses (FEA) are performed to study constraint effect on the crack-front stress fields for single-edge notched bend (SENB) specimens. Both rectangular and square cross-section of the specimens with a deep crack of a/W=0.5 are considered to investigate the effect of specimen size. A square-cross-section specimen with a shallow crack of a/W=0.15 is also considered to examine the effect of crack depth. Stresses from FEA at the crack front on different planes of the specimen are compared with those determined by the J–A₂ three-term solution. Results show that in-plane stress fields can be characterized by the three-term solution throughout the thickness even in the region near the free surface. Cleavage fracture toughness data is compared to predict the effects of specimen size and crack depth on fracture behavior. It is found that the distributions of crack opening stress are nearly the same for the SENB specimens at the critical J which is consistent with the RKR model. Furthermore our results indicate that there is a distinct relationship between the crack-front constraint and the cleavage fracture toughness. By introducing the failure curves, the minimum fracture toughness and scatter band can be well captured using the J–A₂ approach.     

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.     

Fully plastic crack problems: The center-cracked strip under plane strain

Crack problems are formulated for solids characterized by a pure power hardening relation between the stresses and the strains. For such problems there are simple functional relationships between the amplitude of the dominant crack-tip singularity, as measured by the path-independent J-integral, and the applied load, the load point displacement, and the crack opening displacement. The solutions are valid for both incremental and deformation theories of plasticity; they also apply to problems involving steady-state creep. Numerical results are presented for the center-cracked strip of finite width under plane strain conditions. A preliminary discussion is given of the applicability of the solutions to large scale yielding fracture mechanics.     

Creep crack-tip constraint effect in high temperature structures

如何对蠕变裂纹扩展寿命进行准确预测和评价是高温结构完整性评定、寿命设计和运行维护中需要解决的核心问题.基于宏观单参数C^*的蠕变断裂行为的评价方法,未有效纳入裂尖拘束效应的影响,因而其评价结果过于保守或非保守.目前国内外还未建立起有效纳入裂尖拘束效应的高温结构蠕变寿命评价的理论体系和技术方法,还没有纳入蠕变拘束效应的高温结构完整性评定规范.本文综述了作者近年来在高温蠕变断裂拘束效应方面的研究工作.主要包括：裂尖拘束对材料蠕变裂纹扩展行为的影响及机理;蠕变裂尖场和拘束参数R的定义和影响因素;载荷无关的蠕变拘束参数R^*的提出及其应用基础;承压管道表面裂纹的拘束参数R^*解及纳入裂尖拘束的蠕变寿命评价方法;试样与管道轴向裂纹蠕变裂尖拘束的关联;基于裂尖等效蠕变应变的面内与面外蠕变裂尖拘束的统一表征参数A_c的研究;材料拘束相关的蠕变裂纹扩展速率的建立;宽范围C^*区蠕变裂纹扩展速率及其拘束效应的数值预测;材料拘束对焊接接头蠕变裂纹扩展行为的影响及机理等.这些研究为建立纳入裂尖拘束效应的高温部件的蠕变裂纹扩展寿命评价方法奠定了理论和技术基础.论文对后续拟开展的工作也进行了展望.     

A technique for studying interaction between a screw dislocation dipole or a concentrated load and a mode III crack crossing an interface

A method of potentially wide application is developed for deriving analytical expressions of the elastic interaction between a screw dislocation dipole or a concentrated force and a crack cutting perpendicularly across the interface of a bimaterial. The cross line composed of the interface and the crack is mapped into a line, and then the complex potentials are educed. The Muskhelishvili method is extended by creating a Plemelj function that matches the singularity of the real crack tips, and eliminates the pseudo tips’ singularity induced by the conformal mapping. The stress field is obtained after solving the Riemann–Hilbert boundary value problem. Based on the stress field expressions, crack tip stress intensity factors, dislocation dipole image forces and image torque are formulated. Numerical curves show that both the translation and rotation must be considered in the static equilibrium of the dipole system. The crack tip stress intensity factor induced by the dipole may rise or drop and the crack may attract or reject the dipole. These trends depend not only on the crack length, but also on the dipole location, the length and the angle of the dipole span. Generally, the horizontal image force exerted at the center of the dislocation dipole is much smaller than the vertical one. Whether the dipole subjected to clockwise torque or anticlockwise torque is determined by whether the Burgers vector of the crack-nearby dislocation of the dipole is positive or negative. A concentrated load induces no singularity to crack tip stress fields as the load is located at the crack line. However, as the concentrated force is not located on the crack line but approaches the crack tip, the nearby crack tip stress intensity factor K_IIIu increases steeply to infinity.     

A viscoplastic study of crack-tip deformation and crack growth in a nickel-based superalloy at elevated temperature

Viscoplastic crack-tip deformation behaviour in a nickel-based superalloy at elevated temperature has been studied for both stationary and growing cracks in a compact tension (CT) specimen using the finite element method. The material behaviour was described by a unified viscoplastic constitutive model with non-linear kinematic and isotropic hardening rules, and implemented in the finite element software ABAQUS via a user-defined material subroutine (UMAT). Finite element analyses for stationary cracks showed distinctive strain ratchetting behaviour near the crack tip at selected load ratios, leading to progressive accumulation of tensile strain normal to the crack-growth plane. Results also showed that low frequencies and superimposed hold periods at peak loads significantly enhanced strain accumulation at crack tip. Finite element simulation of crack growth was carried out under a constant ΔK-controlled loading condition, again ratchetting was observed ahead of the crack tip, similar to that for stationary cracks.A crack-growth criterion based on strain accumulation is proposed where a crack is assumed to grow when the accumulated strain ahead of the crack tip reaches a critical value over a characteristic distance. The criterion has been utilized in the prediction of crack-growth rates in a CT specimen at selected loading ranges, frequencies and dwell periods, and the predictions were compared with the experimental results.     

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.     

Characterization of crack tip stresses in plane-strain fracture specimens having weld center crack

Fracture toughness of metals depends strongly on the state of stress near the crack tip. The existing standards (like R-6, SINTAP) are being modified to account for the influence of stress triaxiality in the flaw assessment procedures. These modifications are based on the ability of so-called ‘constraint parameters’ to describe near tip stresses. Crack tip stresses in homogeneous fracture specimens are successfully described in terms of two parameters like J–Q or J–T. For fracture specimens having a weld center crack, strength mismatch ratio between base and weld material and weld width are the additional variables, along with the magnitude of applied loading, type of loading, and geometry of specimen that affect the crack tip stresses. In this work, a novel three-parameter scheme was proposed to estimate the crack tip opening stress accounting for the above-mentioned variables. The first and second parameters represent the crack tip opening stress in a homogeneous fracture specimen under small-scale yielding and are well known. The third parameter accounts for the effect of constraint developed due to weld strength mismatch. It comprises of weld strength mismatch ratio (M, i.e. ratio of yield strength of weld material to that of base material), and a plastic interaction factor (I_p) that scales the size of the plastic zone with the width of the weld material. The plastic interaction factor represents the degree of influence of weld strength mismatch on crack tip constraint for a given mismatch ratio. The proposed scheme was validated with detailed FE analysis using the Modified Boundary Layer formulation.     

Analysis of deformation-induced crack tip toughening in ductile single crystals by nano-indentation

This paper reports on the experimental examination of the deformation characteristics near a crack tip in a cyclically work-hardened copper single crystal using a 2D surface scans with nano-indentation. The experimental methodology enables the characterization of the primary deformation field near a crack tip via the modulation of the imposed secondary deformation field by a nano-indentation. In a heavily deformed 4-point bend specimen, the measurements showed an existence of an asymptotic field around the crack tip at a distance of R ⩾ 2.5J/σ₀. The measurements also showed the qualitative details of toughness evolution within the high-gradient deformation field around the crack tip. The nature of dislocation distribution (i.e. statistically distributed vs. distributions necessitated by geometry) around the crack tip is quantified. The measurements indicate the dominance of the geometrically necessary dislocation within the finite deformation zone ahead of the tip up to a distance of R ≈ 3J/σ₀. Thereafter, it is confined in radial rays coinciding with the sector boundaries around the crack tip. These measurements elucidate the origin of the inhomogeneous hardening and the size dependent macroscopic response close to crack tip.     

Plastic yielding on inclined slip-planes at a crack tip

Plastic yield at crack tips on singular slip-planes, inclined to the crack plane, has been studied under plane-strain conditions for combined tension, hydrostatic stress, and in-plane shear. The singular integral equation, which represents the equilibrium condition of edge dislocations on the slip-planes, is transformed into a Fredholm integral equation in order to avoid difficulties that occur with its numerical solution. Results are presented for the slip-band length, the plastic crack-tip opening displacement, stress fields, and crack-opening contours. A series expansion of the results obtained numerically confirms approximate analytical expressions given by J.R. Rice (1974), up to the third-order in the applied stresses. The results of finite element methods agree with values of the crack-tip opening displacement obtained here to within 10 per cent. Ahead of the crack tip, the principal tensile stresses exceed the principal shear stresses by a factor of 10, approximately.     

Antiplane deformation of a partially bonded elliptical inclusion

A new method that introduces two holomorphic potential functions (the two-phase potentials) is applied to analyze the antiplane deformation of an elliptical inhomogeneity partially-bonded to an infinite matrix. Elastic fields are obtained when either the matrix is subject to a uniform longitudinal shear or the inhomogeneity undergoes a uniform shear transformation. The stress field possesses the square-root singularity of a Mode III interface crack, which, in the special case of a rigid line inhomogeneity, changes in order, as the crack tip approaches the inhomogeneity end. In the latter situation the crack-tip elastic fields are linear in two real stress intensity factors related to a strong and a weak singularity of the stress field.