Lebanese American University

School of Engineering

Department of Civil Engineering

Byblos Campus

CIE 305 – Stress Analysis LAB

Instructor: Gebran Karam

Spring 2020

Report 5: Fracture of a Plexiglas beam

with various depth cracks

Done by: Adham Hassan

ID: 201604307

Date of Submission: 15/07/2020

Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 3
Theory of the Experiment ............................................................................................................................ 4
List of Equipments: ....................................................................................................................................... 6
Experimental Procedure ............................................................................................................................... 7
Data and Results ............................................................................................................................................ 8
Error Analysis ............................................................................................................................................. 11
Conclusions : ................................................................................................................................................ 12
References .................................................................................................................................................... 13
Introduction

In engineering we have several reasons to fail the elements and in practice the
material never reaches its design or full capacity. In other words, most members fail
under loads less than that which they were designed for due to fatigue or crack.
Fatigue is failure due to repetition and cycles of loads in aged structures. On the other
hand, cracks are deformations in the structure which reduces its loading capacity.
Fracture is the separation of a body into pieces due to stresses. Fracture
mechanics is a field of solid mechanics that started after World War 2 and deals

with the mechanical behavior of cracked bodies. It is important to study such

failure due to three main reasons:

• Presence of cracks and defects in any engineering element is precluded

• Energy and material conservation implies decreasing factors of safety
• Requirement to determine residual strength and life of cracked structure

As time increase and dynamic loads and cycle’s keeps on, the crack size grows
which leads to strength reduction up to a point where the member fails under
sudden load or due to service load with time according to one of the three modes of
failure by cracking:

• Opening mode
• Sliding mode
• Tearing mode
Theory of the Experiment

Poly(methyl methacrylate), more commonly known as Plexiglas, is a transparent

thermoplastic similar in shape to ordinary glass. Unlike glass, it does not shatter
and it is more light-weight. Chemically Plexiglas is the synthetic polymer of methyl
methacrylate. It was developed in 1928 by the three chemists, William
Chalmers, Otto Rohm and Walter Bauer. And it was first brought to market in 1933
by the Rohm and Haas Company, under the trademark Plexiglas.

PMMA gained its popularity during World War II as a durable substitute for glass,
but today it can be found in headlights, acrylic mirrors, medical implants and even
musical instruments. It is ideal for large aquarium tanks, protective shields at ice
rinks, forklift guards, helmet visors and viewing ports on submarines where its
shatterproof properties are needed.

Even though Plexiglas is a very commonly used material with many advantages, it
still has many cons. For instance, unlike glass, Plexiglas is highly combustible and
it shouldn’t be used in hot areas. In fact, when using Plexiglas as a window, many
precautions have to be taken in order to make sure it doesn’t melt. Plexiglas is also
very prone to scratching because it is a very soft substance and no matter how deep
or shallow the scratch is, it will always be permanent. Plexiglas is also a material
that requires high maintenance since it should be cleaned with special products and
normal cleaners will ruin it by making it cloudy.
 Throughout this experiment, our only concern was to find the K value for
Plexiglas by loading it with different loads and studying its reaction to each of the
loads. The stress intensity factor, , is used in fracture mechanics to predict
the stress state ("stress intensity") near the tip of a crack caused by a remote load or
residual stresses. It is a theoretical construct usually applied to a homogeneous,
linear elastic material and is useful for providing a failure criterion
for brittle materials, and is a critical technique in the discipline of damage
tolerance. The concept can also be applied to materials that exhibit small-
scale yielding at a crack tip.
The magnitude of depends on sample geometry, the size and location of the
crack, and the magnitude and the modal distribution of loads on the material.
We only need the following formula to determine the K value for mode 1:

PS a 0.5 a 1.5 a 2.5 a 3.5 a 4.6

K1= [2.9 ( ) − 4.6 ( ) + 21.8 ( ) − 37.6 ( ) + 38.7 ( ) ]
BM^1.5 M M M M M

Where B is the thickness, W the depth, S the span, a the crack size
List of Equipments:

❖ Saw

❖ Plexiglas pieces

❖ Ruler

❖ Marker

❖ Clamp

❖ Caliper

❖ Universal Testing Machine

Experimental Procedure

• Obtain 7 pieces of Plexiglas

• Using a caliper, measure the thickness of each one (thickness = 4.5 mm)

• Using a ruler, measure the width and the length of each piece, then mark the
midpoint and the supports places and then choose a span length of 110 mm.

• Fix the Plexiglas on the clamp so that its 1mm above the surface of the clamp
then saw it at the midpoint (Repeat for 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 mm)

• Place the supports at their required places and start the compression test using
the Tinius Olsen Machine.

• Record the values.

Data and Results
1)

Crack size (mm) Ultimate Load P

(N)
0 600
1 380
2 220
3 180
4 170
5 120
6 100
Table 1: The Different Breaking Loads P

2)
Chart Title
700
600
600

500
380
400
P (N)

300 220
180 170
200 120 100
100

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Crack Size (mm)

Figure 1: Load vs. Crack Size

Referring to the above chart, it is obvious that as the crack size increase in
the specimen, the ultimate load that can be carried decreases sharply at the first
2 cm and then as the crack size increase the ultimate load gradually decreases.
The stress intensity factor K is calculated using the following formula:
PS a 0.5 a 1.5 a 2.5 a 3.5 a 4.6
K1= [2.9 ( ) − 4.6 ( ) + 21.8 ( ) − 37.6 ( ) + 38.7 ( ) ]
BW^1.5 w w w w w

Where B is the thickness = 4.5 mm, W the depth = 15 mm, S the span = 110
mm, a is the variable crack size

Crack size (mm) Break load (N) K1 (MPa)

0 600 0
1 380 5.44
2 220 19.13
3 180 40.58
4 170 69.36
5 120 105.5
6 100 129.3
 Chart Title
3) 140

120

100
K Value (MPa)

80

60

40

20

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Crack Size (mm)

Figure 2: K value vs. Crack size

As observed in the graphical representation above, the breaking stress intensity factor
increases when increasing the crack size. Therefore, the breaking stress intensity factor K is
directly proportional to the crack size.
Error Analysis
After the test is done, an analysis of results is made so we are able to conclude a
general theory for each case in addition to an analysis of the errors that had occurred
during the experiment. The experiment performed may be conducted with many
sources of errors such as the following:

• Errors in measuring
• The determinations of the crack sizes (a) were not exact; they are taken
approximately due to small dimensions in millimetres.
• Plexiglas in the clamp was not placed exactly perpendicular to the saw when
forming the cracks.
• The sawing was not centered at the midspan.
• The supports where not placed in their exact positions on the testing machine
• The thickness is not measured accurate due to imprecision in the usage of the
caliper.
Conclusions :
In conclusion, when loads are applied to a structure having a crack, the crack size
will increase. The bigger the crack, the higher the stress concentration induced by it.
Thus, the crack propagation will increase with time. In this lab, due to the presence
of cracks, the residual strength of the structure decreases progressively with
increasing crack size. Also we can analyze that K depends on the size and location
of the crack, also on the load applied on the structure. It is then concluded that the
stress intensity factor K1 is variable with the size and location of the crack, and the
magnitude and the modal distribution of loads on the material.
References

❖ Mechanics of Materials, 5th Edition

❖ http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com