Characteristics and effects of T-stresses in central-cracked unstiffened and stiffened plates under mode I loading

• Published in: Engineering fracture mechanics 2018-02, Vol.188, p.393-415
• Main Authors: Huang, Xingling, Liu, Yinghua, Dai, Yanwei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Crack tip plastic zone; Error analysis; Error correction; Finite element method; Flat plates; Geometry; Impact analysis; Influence; Mathematical analysis; Plates (structural members); Small scale yielding; Stiffened plates; Stress intensity factors; Studies; T-stress
• ISSN: 0013-7944; 1873-7315
• DOI: 10.1016/j.engfracmech.2017.09.017

[Display omitted] •T-stress is affected by plate thickness and stiffener’s size, location and integrity.•An improved analytical solution of crack tip plastic zone size is proposed.•Crack tip plastic zone size is affected by in-plane and out-of-plane T-stresses.•The plastic zone size is influenced by structure geometry and crack size. Crack tip plastic zone size is affected by in-plane and out-of-plane T-stresses. The characteristics of T-stresses are obtained in flat plates and stiffened plates with three-dimensional finite element method and interaction integral method. Based on stress intensity factors and T-stresses, an improved analytical solution is proposed for crack tip plastic zone size, which is corrected with relative error analyses, then its application range is determined. The results show that the T-stresses are affected by plate thickness, crack length as well as stiffener’s size, location and integrity. Both in-plane and out-of-plane T-stresses play significant roles in plastic zone size. Furthermore, structure geometry and crack size can influence the plastic zone size, but their effects are negligible under some situations, and the improved analytical solution is in excellent agreement with numerical solution then.