Advanced Fracture Mechanics

CIE 816
Lecture 4

Department of Civil Engineering

University of Abuja
Fracture Mechanics cont’
In the early days of fracture, the Inglis and Griffith criteria was used to
calculated fracture stress (f) of materials

The birth of fracture mechanics in 1950s led to the concepts of stress

intensity factor (K) and energy release rate (G)

These concepts worked well in the domain of ‘linear elasticity’ (LEFM);

i.e. for brittle materials. Crack tip stresses in the domain of LEFM were
characterized by the stress intensity factor and energy release rate

Then the concept of Crack Tip Opening Displacement (CTOD) evolved

and it was used to characterize cracks in ductile materials

The J-integral was also proposed to characterizes the field intensity of

ductile materials with large plastic deformation at the crack tip
Fundamental Theories of Fracture Mechanics
A. Early Days’ of the Study of Fracture
1. Notch Stress Concentration (f), Inglis,1913
2. Griffith Fracture Analysis (f), Griffith, 1920
3. Orowan’s modification (f), Orowan, 1950

B. Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM)

1. Stress Intensity Factor (K), Irwin, 1957
2. Energy Release Rate (G), Irwin, 1964

C. Elastic-Plastic Fracture Mechanics (EPFM)

1. Crack Tip Opening Displacement (, CTOD), Wells, 1961
2. J-integral (J), Rice, 1968
B. Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM)
1. Stress Intensity Factor (K), Irwin, 1957

2. Energy Release Rate (G), Irwin, 1964

Stress Intensity Factor (K), Irwin, 1957
The stress field near a crack tip is a function of the location, the loading
conditions, and the geometry of the crack

State of stress: biaxial Stress fields at the crack tips

σxx= σyy= σo For a body subjected to far field
far field biaxial stress 0, with a double ended
crack of length 2c, the stress state is
given by (mode-I loading):
2c
Stresses near and at the tip of the crack

KI       3 
 xx  Cos  1  Sin  Sin   (1)
2r  2  2  2 

KI       3 
 yy  Cos  1  Sin  Sin   (2)
2r  2  2  2 

KI        3 
 xy  Cos  Sin  Sin  (3)
2r 2 2  2 
In all loading, 1/r singularity occurs at the tip of the crack

1
 ij  f   or  ij  K I f (r , )
r

K (stress intensity factor) and fij (dimensionless shape correction factor)

depend on loading type and shape geomety (i,j = 1,3)
KI I
ij 
I
f ij 
2r

K I  f a/r  a

KI  Y   a
Crack length

Stress Intensity Factor

‘Shape factor’ related to ‘Geometry’
K (Stress Intensity Factor) quantifies the magnitude of the effect of
stress singularity at the crack tip. K has units of MPam

K captures the combined effect of crack length and loading

The factor ‘Y’ depends on the geometry of the crack

Y=1 for double ended crack in a infinite body

Y=1.12 for a surface crack. The value of Y is larger (by 12%) for a surface
crack as additional strain energy is released (in the region marked dark
grey shade in the figure below), due to the presence of the free surface

Y=2/ for a embedded penny shaped crack

Y=0.713 for a surface half-penny crack

Center crack in an infinite plate subjected to tension

2a
h
K  Y a

2 3
a a a
b
Y  1  0.256   1.152   12.2 
 w  w  w

P
Single sided notch, subjected to stress

K  Y a

2 3 4
a a a a
Y  1.12  0.23   10.56   21.74   30.42 
 w  w  w  w
Region of K-Dominance
The region near the crack tip, where the singular part can describe the
stress fields is the K-Dominance region

This is the region where the stress intensity factor can be used to
characterize the crack tip stress fields

The region where the crack tip plastic zone is smaller than the K-
dominance region is called the Small Scale Yielding (SSY) regime, and
concepts of linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) can be used with
little error is this region

In general, however, the concept of K holds when the plastic zone, rp at

the crack tip is small compared to the crack length (rp < a/50)
Plastic Zone Size

2 2
1  K 
 1  K 
rp  rp  
3   ys 
    ys 

For Plane Strain For Plane Stress

the plastic zone size under plane strain conditions is less than that
under plane stresses conditions
Fracture toughness
Fracture toughness is the critical value of stress intensity factor and it is
known as Kc

It is the critical crack driving force where propagation of the crack

suddenly becomes rapid and unlimited

It is also a measure of the material’s resistance to fracture

KIC is a material property and can be determined for different materials

using standard testing methods

Assumptions on KC:
(i) material has a linear elastic behaviour (i.e. no plastic deformation),
(ii) inverse square root singularity exists at crack tip
(iii) the K-dominance region characterizes the crack tip.
Fracture Toughness (KIC) for some typical materials

Material KIC [MPam]

Cast Iron 33
Low carbon steel 77
Stainless steel 220
Al alloy 2024-T3 33
Al alloy 7075-T6 28
Ti-6Al-4V 55
Inconel 600 (Ni based alloy) 110

To use KIC as a design parameter, we have to use its ‘conservative value’.

Hence, a minimum thickness is prescribed in the standard sample for
the determination of fracture toughness

This implies that KIC is the value determined from ‘plane strain tests’
Energy Release Rate (G), Irwin, 1964
As cracks grow, energy is absorbed by the crack tip at an energy release
rate G, which is a function of the applied load, the crack length, and the
geometry of the crack and the body

Gc is referred to as the "fracture energy" of the material

All solid materials have an intrinsic energy release rate, Gc, a crack will
grow if G ≥ Gc,

G is defined as the total potential energy () decrease during unit crack
extension (da) and is given by:

d
G
da
The potential energy is a difficult quantity to visualize. In the absence of
external tractions, the potential energy is equal to the strain energy
stored:
 = Us.*
dU s
G
da

 2 a 2 B
Us  
E
dU s 2 2 aB
 0
da E

2 2 aB
G
E ‘G’ has units of [J/m2]
Relation between K and G
In spite of the fact that ‘G’ has a more direct physical interpretation for
the crack growth process, usually ‘K’ is more amenable to theoretical
computation

‘K’ can be related to ‘G’ using the following equations:

G

1 v 
K
2
2
G
K2
E E
For Plane Strain For Plane Stress

where ν is Poisson’s ratio

Application of Linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM)
Linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) is based on the analysis of
cracks in linear elastic materials

It provides a tool for solving most practical problems in engineering

mechanics, such as safety and life expectancy estimation of cracked
structures and components

The main success of the theory is based precisely upon linearity, which
makes it possible to combine very simply the theoretical, numerical,
and experimental analyses of fracture

Today, stress analyses of the complex geometry of structures as well as

of test specimens are provided by powerful computers using finite
element methods
C. Elastic-Plastic Fracture Mechanics (EPFM)
First one has to decide if the material is brittle or ductile (i.e. if the crack
tip is sharp or blunted)

If the material is brittle, one has to decide if the material is linear elastic
or not

For linear elastic materials we can apply the concept of K and use
material property KC (usually in mode-I these quantities become KI and
KIC). We could also use G and GC

If the material is ductile then we need to determine if the plastic zone is

small compared to the K dominance zone. If not then we can not
continue to use the concepts of K and G
C. Elastic-Plastic Fracture Mechanics (EPFM)
If crack tip plasticity is large, then we have to use concepts like J-integral
and CTOD. The crack tip stress fields in this case is given by the HRR
fields

Many experiments were conducted to verify the accuracy of the models

of fracture mechanics. Significant efforts were devoted to converting
theories of fracture mechanics to fracture design guidelines.
C. Elastic-Plastic Fracture Mechanics (EPFM)
1. Crack Tip Opening Displacement (, CTOD), Wells, 1961

2. J-integral (J), Rice, 1968

Crack Tip Opening Displacement (, CTOD), Wells, 1961
In many practical problems, the assumption of small-scale plasticity is
not valid, especially when the plastic zone sizes are large compared to
the crack size or specimen dimensions

The concept of CTOD was proposed by Wells. This model can be used,
both in the case of moderate and large yielding

The CTOD is the amount of crack opening before crack extension, it is a

parameter for characterizing the stress–strain field ahead of the crack
tip. CTOD under

plane strain conditions plane stress conditions

K 2 K2
 
2 E ys E ys
The CTOD is generally measured with a crack-mouth clip gauge. Using
similar triangles, accurate measurements with this gauge can be
related easily to the CTOD

The CTOD corresponds to the displacement between points on the

crack face that are intersected by 45o lines from the center of the crack

Values of the CTOD measured at the onset of fracture instability

correspond to the fracture toughness of a material

Hence, the CTOD is often used to represent the fracture toughness of

materials that exhibit significant plasticity prior to the onset of fracture
instability
Measurement of the crack-tip opening displacement using a
crack-mouth clip gauge
J-integral (J), Rice, 1968
In 1968, Rice modeled the plastic deformation as non-linear elastic
behavior and extended the method of energy release rate to non-linear
materials

He showed that the energy release rate can be expressed as a path-

independent line integral, called the J integral

Using concepts from plastic deformation, Rice and Rosengren along

with Hutchinson derived the crack tip stress fields in the presence of
plastic deformation (called the HRR fields)

They showed that the J-integral characterizes the crack tip with plastic
deformation analogous to the strain energy release rate, G in LEFM
The J integral is a path-independent integral that relies on the
determination of an energy term

It expresses the change in potential energy when a crack is extended by

an amount, da, in a manner analogous to the strain energy release rate,
G, which is used for the linear elastic condition

The J integral for a non-linear elastic body, is defined as

 du 


J  Wdy  T

ds 
dx 

Where W is the strain energy density, which is given by


W  W x, y   W ( )   ij d ij
0
where
Г is an arbitrary closed contour followed counterclockwise in a
stressed solid
T is the traction perpendicular to Г in an outward facing direction
u is the displacement in the x direction
ds is an incremental length along the path
σij and εij are the stress and strain tensors
Schematic of the components of the path-independent line integral
For a linear elastic material, J = G

Also, for the linear elastic case, i.e. under small scale yielding, J is
uniquely related to K by

K2
J
E
The J integral provides a unique measure of the amplitude of the crack-
tip fields under non-linear fracture conditions
Region of J-Dominance

The annular zone of J-dominance corresponds to the region where the

HRR field solutions are within 10% of the full crack-tip field solutions
obtained from finite element analyses

Under small-scale yielding conditions, the HRR field solutions have

been shown to be applicable over a distance corresponding to 20 - 25%
of the plastic zone size

However, under large-scale yielding conditions, the region of J

dominance is highly dependent on specimen configuration
Schematic of annular region of J dominance
Relation between  and J
Both the Crack Tip Opening Displacement (, CTOD) and the J-integral
(J) can be used as fracture parameter for analysis of problems under
the elastic plastic fracture mechanic (EPFM)

‘’ can be related to ‘J’ using the following equation:

J  m y

Where
m is a material constant which depends on Ramberg-Osgood Constant
σy is yield stress of the material
Class activity 3

State the expressions and S.I. Units for Stress Intensity factor, K and
Energy Release Rate, G, also state the relationship between ‘K’ and ‘G’.