AN IMPROVED NUMERICAL TECHNIQUE FOR SIMULATING THE GROWTH OF PLANAR FATIGUE CRACKS

• Published in: Fatigue & fracture of engineering materials & structures 1997-10, Vol.20 (10), p.1363-1373
• Main Authors: Lin, X. B., Smith, R. A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Exact sciences and technology; Fatigue crack growth; Fatigue shape simulation; Finite element analysis; Fracture mechanics (crack, fatigue, damage...); Fracture mechanics, fatigue and cracks; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Physics; Planar cracks; Solid mechanics; Stress intensity factor; Structural and continuum mechanics
• ISSN: 8756-758X; 1460-2695
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-2695.1997.tb01495.x

— This paper describes a versatile technique for simulating the fatigue growth of a wide range of planar cracks of practical significance. Crack growth is predicted on a step‐by‐step basis from the Paris law using stress intensity factors calculated by the finite element method. The crack front is defined by a cubic spline curve from a set of nodes. Both the 1/4‐node crack opening displacement and the three‐dimensional J‐integral (energy release rate) methods are used to calculate the stress intensity factors. Automatic remeshing of the finite element model to a new position which defines the new crack front enables the crack propagation to be followed. The accuracy and capability of this finite element simulation technique are demonstrated in this paper by the investigation of various problems of both theoretical and practical interest. These include the shape growth trend of an embedded initially penny‐shaped defect and an embedded initially elliptical defect in an infinite body, the growth of a semi‐elliptical surface crack in a finite thickness plate under tension and bending, the propagation of an internal crack in a round bar and the shape change of an external surface crack in a pressure vessel.