CHINESE JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

·766· Vol. 22,aNo. 5,a2009

DOI: 10.3901/CJME.2009.05.766, available online at www.cjmenet.com; www.cjmenet.com.cn

Simulation Research on Stress Intensity Factors of Different Crack Aspect Ratios

on Hollow Axles

ZHOU Suxia* and XIE Jilong

Engineering Research Center of Structure Reliability and Operation Measurement Technology of Rail Guided Vehicles
of Ministry of Education, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China

Received December 5, 2008; revised June 11, 2009; accepted June 15, 2009; published electronically October 20, 2009

Abstract: Because of the wicked service environment of the high speed train, it is possible that the hollow axle of the train may
encounter the foreign object damage and form a sharp notch. Under the fatigue loading a crack can initiate from the notch and propagate
to failure. It is noted that the stress intensity factor is the control parameter of the crack propagating, for the purpose of getting the more
exact propagation characteristics, the stress intensity factor is studied mainly. The service loads of hollow axles are defined, and the
stress distribution of hollow axles is obtained according to the load spectrum. The semi-ellipse crack configuration is defined with three
parameters: the aspect ratio, the relative depth and the relative location along the crack front. Quarter point 20-node isoparametric
degenerate singular elements are used for the region near the crack tip. The finite element model of crack extension of hollow axle is
created, and the crack front is dispersed which can realize orthogonal extension. Based on this the stress intensity factors of crack front
were calculated, and the distribution rules of the stress intensity factors of different initial crack shapes are obtained. The conclusions are
compared with that of the analytic method and they agree with each other very well, and the calculating results show that there is a close
relationship between the stress intensity factor and the initial crack shape. For a round crack the stress intensity factor at the surface
point increases faster than the one at the center point with the crack propagation. However, for a narrow crack, the results are in contrast
with that of a round one. So, all the cracks with different shapes propagate toward to a similar shape, and they grow at this shape to end.
The study may contribute to the crack propagate characteristics research.

Key words: hollow axle, surface crack propagation, stress intensity factor, finite element

study this in terms of service loading of railway axles.

* Several methods can be used to determine the SIF, such
1 Introduction
as engineering estimation method[9], finite element
method[10–13], boundary integral method[14] and Photoelastic
Hollow axles are used in railway vehicles more abroad
method[15], and so on. But some of them can only use in the
with the development of high speed railway. Axle is the key
special conditions: the engineering estimation method is
part bearing the weight of a vehicle and its fatigue and
difficult to implement for some complicated structures; the
fracture problem can result in catastrophe[1–2]. The initial
boundary integral method can’t be used universally; the
crack on the surface of an axle can grow under the service
Photoelastic method need a long test cycle and has a high
loading. When it grows to the critical size the axle will
cost. However, the finite element method can be used
become invalid. It is necessary to estimate the crack
expediently to calculate the SIF by simulating and
propagation life and prevent accidents, so the residence life
numerical calculating.
analysis is the basis of the research of non-destructive
For a 3D surface crack, NEWMAN, et al[16], developed
test(NDT) interval. In the fracture analysis the stress
the SIF equation from a finite-element analysis of a
intensity factor(SIF) is an important parameter which is
semielliptical surface crack in an elastic finite thickness
used to judge the fracture condition. There are some papers
plate subjected to tension or bending. FORMAN, et al[17],
talk about the surface crack propagation of a round bar
assumed the actual cracks to be always part-circles that
under some uniform loads or their combination[3–5], some
intersect the free surface of the bar at right angles. By
others have studied the dimensionless SIFs along the crack
examining bars and pipes, it was found that the shapes of
front on a round bar[6–8]. Up to now there are very few
crack growth of a straight-edge and a part-ellipse front are
papers discussing the SIFs of a railway axle surface crack
similar to that of a part-circle. In the following text the
under the typical loading conditions, so this paper will
finite element method will be used to calculate the SIF.
* Corresponding author. E-mail: sxzhou1971@163.com This paper describes some theoretical background of the
This project is supported by National Basic Research and Development fracture mechanics associated with the SIF and the finite
Program of China (973 Program, Grant No. 2007CB714705)
 CHINESE JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING ·767·

element method. Based on the theory several parts, i.e., the æ q 3q ö

axle and crack models by finite element, the stress ç (2k - 1) cos 2 - cos 2 ÷
æuö K r ç ÷ K
distribution, the detail process of crack propagation çv÷= I ç q 3q ÷ + II g
ç w ÷ 4G 2π ç (2k + 1) sin - sin ÷ 4G
simulation technique and the results analysis of SIFs along è ø 2 2 ÷
ç
the crack front are discussed. Then the results are compared ç ÷
è 0 ø
with that of the analytic method and they agree with each
æ q 3q ö
ç (2k + 3) sin 2 + sin 2 ÷
other very well. æ 0 ö
ç ÷
r ç ÷ K r ç 0 ÷
ç ÷ + III
2π ç (3 - 2k ) cos q - cos 3q ÷ 4G 2π ç
2 Fracture Mechanics Theory of Calculating .
Surface SIF by Finite Element Method q÷
ç 2 2 ÷ ç 8sin ÷
ç ÷ è 2ø
è 0 ø
2.1 Stress and displacement field at crack tip (2)
The 3D crack model in component can be abstracted as
Fig. 1. X-axis parallels to the positive aspect of the crack, Where r, θ are the coordinates weights in the local pole
Y-axis is perpendicular to the crack surface, and the Z-axis coordinates and r « crack length. The high-order terms in
is the tangent through a point at the crack front curve. Eqs. (1)–(2) are defaulted. σx, σy, σz, τxy, τyz, τzx are the stress
weights, respectively; u, v, w the displacement weights at
an arbitrary point along the crack front at x-axis, y-axis, and
z-axis, respectively. G is the modulus of elasticity in shear
(G=E/2(1+µ), and E is the modulus of elasticity); k is a
constant related to the Poisson ratio, µ, and k=3–4µ,
σz=µ(σx+σy) in plane strain problem but k=(3–µ)/(1+µ),
σz=0 in plane stress problem. KI, KII, KIII are model-I,
model-II and model-III SIF, respectively.

2.2 Calculation of SIF

Fig. 1. Three-dimensional crack model The stress intensity factor of symmetry crack can be
derived according to Eq. (2):
Consider a unit near the crack tip in polar coordinates
(r, θ), the stress field is given by Eq. (1): æ KI ö 2G 2π æç v ö÷
ç K II ÷ = lim u , (3)
ç K ÷ r ® 0 k + 1 r ç k +1 w ÷
æ qæ q 3q öö è III ø è 4 øq =±π
ç cos ç1 - sin sin ÷÷
ç 2è 2 2 ø÷
æs x ö ç qæ q 3q ö÷ where the displacement perpendicular to crack plane
çs y ÷ cos ç 1 + sin sin ÷÷
çs ÷ ç 2è 2 2 ø ( q = ± π ) at a point is given.
K I ç q ÷+
çt z ÷ = 2m cos
2pr ç ÷ According to the dynamic stress data from the test of
ç xy ÷ ç 2 ÷
t
çç yz ÷÷ q q 3q hollow axles of high speed vehicles the bending loads are
ç ÷
è t zx ø ç
cos
2
sin
2
cos
2 ÷
higher than torsion stress far from. So the crack on axle
çç 0 ÷÷ surface belongs to mode-I. K I can be described as
è 0 ø follows:
æ qæ q 3q ö ö
ç - sin ç 2 + cos cos ÷ ÷ Gv 2π Ev 2π
ç 2è 2 2 ø÷ æ 0 ö KI = = . (4)
ç q q 3q ÷ ç 0 ÷ 2(1 - m ) r 4(1 - m 2 ) r
ç
sin cos cos
2 2 2 ÷ ç 0 ÷
K II ç q ÷ + K III ç 0 ÷ .
-2 m sin ç q ÷
2pr ç 2 ÷ 2pr ç cos ÷ The displacement values of some nodes in crack tip
ç qæ q 3q ö ÷
ç cos ç1 - sin sin ÷ ÷ ç 2 ÷ region, vi, can be obtained through finite element method.
ç 2è 2 2 ø ÷ ç - sin q ÷ Then substitute them into Eq. (4) to obtain the apparent
çç 0 ÷÷ è 2ø stress intensity factor values, K Ii* . Finally the numerical
è 0 ø solution of K I (r=0) can be derived by using least square
(1) method.

In the field of line elastic fracture mechanics, the stress 3 Build the Crack Model
field near crack tip region can be obtained by elastic
mechanics. So the displacement field near crack can be 3.1 Force analysis of axles
described by the following expression: The service loads of the axles include three components:
 ·768· YZHOU Suxia, et al: Simulation Research on Stress Intensity Factors of Different Crack Aspect Ratios on Hollow AxlesY
A global bending moment caused by the weight of the
vehicle and augmented by dynamic effects. Axial forces
introduced in curves, at switches, crossovers, etc. Stress
concentration at geometrical transition of the axle. In the
finite element analysis the loading applied on axles are
shown in Fig. 2. The stress profiles across the wall of the
hollow axle can be concluded as Fig. 3.

The 1/4-node displacement u1/4

Fig. 2. Loading applied on hollow axle

Fig. 5. Partial enlarged drawing

of singular element at crack tip

Define a section at the crack front which is perpendicular

to the crack front plane and whose normal direction is
perpendicular to the tangent of the crack front. The stress
intensity factor is calculated with the 1/4-node
displacement. Then the local increment Δaj of crack
extension is obtained by using Paris law as shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 3. Stress distribute on the cross-section

of hollow axle (MPa)

3.2 Propagation simulation along the crack front

It is necessary to settle model building problem to
confirm the stress intensity factors along the crack front[7–9].
Here, quarter point 20-node isoparametric degenerate
singular elements are used for the region near the crack tip,
Fig. 6. Increment of crack front
this method can settle the singular stress. The model
consists of two parts: crack body and its carrier body which
The crack front is dispersed to propagate perpendicularly
form the whole model. The whole mode is meshed using
and the perpendicular extension sizes Δaj are different after
isoparametric and 3D hexahedron unit, SOLID95. The
ΔN cycles, thus, the paper obtained the nonsynchronous
region near the crack is refined locally. The 3D SOLID95
extension crack front. The stress intensity factor values will
singular elements are shown in Fig. 4. The local
be more accurate.
magnification of the singular elements at crack tip is shown
The maximum step length of single-step perpendicular
in Fig. 5.
extension is expressed by Δamax, it is confirmed by the
fitted error of crack front and is small enough to ensure
simulation precision. Δamax is used to disperse the whole
crack extension process at the front. At the node j, the crack
length is given as aj, the corresponding SIF is ΔKj,
according to Paris formula, daj/dN=C(ΔKj)m, Δaj is given
by the following equation:

m
æ DK j ö
Da j = çç ÷÷ Damax .
è DK max ø
Fig. 4. Mesh of the submodel
 CHINESE JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING ·769·

In this paper the axle steel material is 25CrMo4,

C=1.647 5×10–11 for da/dN (m/cycle) and ΔK in MPa m ,
and m=3 for steel. Here, C and m are the material
parameters and ΔK is the stress intensity factor range.
At a new location the crack extents and new 3D meshes
are created. Repeat the steps and the stress intensity factors
are obtained at different crack fronts.

4 Finite Element Analysis of the Stress

Intensity Factors of Semi-ellipse Crack
on the Hollow Axle Surface

The crack is described by the aspect ratio a0/c0 and the

relative crack depth a/t at the deepest point. Here, a, c and t
is the crack depth, crack length and wall-thickness of the
hollow axle, respectively. a0 and c0 is the initial crack depth
and length, respectively. The SIF of four different cracks
with the aspect ratio a0/c0=0.125, 0.25, 0.5, 1, respectively,
and the analysis results are shown in Fig. 7. The number
“0” at the transverse axis represents the crack center, “1”
and “–1’ are the surface points of the crack.

Fig. 7. Distribution of SIF for different a0/c0

at different depths

We can find from Fig. 7 that the SIF relates with the
aspect ratio at the initial stage of crack extension. For the
initial crack with a0/c0=1 the stress intensity factors at
surface points are different little from the central points.
With the increase of crack depth the SIF increases. The
crack extension speed at the surface point is bigger than the
centre one gradually. The crack extension tends to a flat
shape. For the crack with a0/c0=0.125 or 0.25, the stress
intensity factors at the central points are bigger than the
 ·770· YZHOU Suxia, et al: Simulation Research on Stress Intensity Factors of Different Crack Aspect Ratios on Hollow AxlesY
surface ones. The more flat the initial crack is, the bigger
the difference of the stress intensity factors is at surface and
central points. The crack propagates more quickly at depth.
Finally the different cracks extent to a certain aspect ratio
and the shapes are similar.
5 Validation of the SIFs
In Ref. [18] the author gives the analytic model of SIF
for hollow axles. Here, the SIFs are calculated with the
model to validate the SIFs’ reliability above. The analytic
Eq. (5) is as follows:
é æaö æaö
2
æaö ù
3
KI = ês 0 f0 +s1 f1 ç ÷ +s 2 f2 ç ÷ +s 3 f3 ç ÷ ú pa +
êë ètø èt ø è t ø úû
Fbs b pa . (5)
Where σb is the bending stress. σ0, σ1, σ2, σ3 are the fitted
coefficients, f0, f1, f2, f3, Fb are the shape factors at different
crack depths. These parameters are given in Ref. [12].
The results for a0/c0=1 are compared as Fig. 8, which
show that the errors are between 3.18%–6.74% and the
results are relative precise and the finite element model is
feasible.
Fig. 8. Comparison of SIFs of FEM
and analytic method
6 Conclusions
In this paper the service loads of hollow axles were
defined, the stress of hollow axles were obtained by
calculating using the load spectrum. The finite element
model of crack extension of hollow axle is created. Based
on this the stress intensity factors along the crack front
were calculated, and the distribution rules of the stress
intensity factors of different initial crack shapes are
obtained.
(1) The research shows that the finite element method is
used to calculate the SIF is feasible.
(2) The singular elements are set around the crack tip to
simulate the stress singularity. Disperse the crack front and
let it extent orthogonally, then the stress intensity factors
under non-synchronization extension are obtained.
(3) Under the service loads we analyzed the SIF
distributions of different aspect ratios crack at different
depths. This offers very good references for the research of
fracture reliability for hollow axles.
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 CHINESE JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
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Biographical notes
ZHOU Suxia is currently a PhD candidate in Engineering
Research Center of Structure Reliability and Operation
Measurement Technology of Rail Guided Vehicles of Ministry of
Education, Beijing Jiaotong University, China. Her research
interests include fatigue of metals, fatigue of structure, and
·771·
dynamics of vehicles.
Tel: +86-10-51688204; E-mail: sxzhou1971@163.com
XIE Jilong is currently a professor in Engineering Research
Center of Structure Reliability and Operation Measurement
Technology of Rail Guided Vehicles of Ministry of Education,
Beijing Jiaotong University, China. He received his PhD degree
from Center Industry and Art University, France, in 1992. His
research interests include fatigue of metals, fatigue of structure,
and dynamics of vehicles.
Tel: +86-10-51688204; E-mail: jlxie@bjtu.edu.cn