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IssuesArchive of Issues2001-2pp.95-103

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I. M. Lavit, "Crack growth in the process of quasibrittle fracture under an increasing or cyclic load," Mech. Solids. 36 (2), 95-103 (2001)
Year 2001 Volume 36 Number 2 Pages 95-103
Title Crack growth in the process of quasibrittle fracture under an increasing or cyclic load
Author(s) I. M. Lavit (Tula)
Abstract For an elastic-plastic body in the plane strain state, we consider the problem of growth for a rectilinear tensile surface crack of length a. The body is subjected to distributed surface loads p whose variation is quasistatic and proportional to a single parameter (Fig. 1). The plastic region near the crack tip is assumed small in comparison with the dimensions of the body and the length of the crack. The behavior of the crack in this situation, with the load parameter monotonically increasing, can be described, with an acceptable degree of accuracy, by the Irwin-Orowan [1-2] theory of quasibrittle fracture based on the assumption that the said plastic region is moving unchanged together with the crack tip. If the calculated value of the stress intensity factor KI is less than the crack resistance KIC (a material constant), then the crack does not move. The quasistatic growth of the crack implies that its length and the load parameter are related by KI=IIC. The crack growth resistance due to the plastic deformation of the material as the plastic region is moving with the crack tip is assumed constant and is taken into consideration indirectly in terms of KIC.

Thus, the crack of length a0 begins to grow only when the load parameter reaches a certain critical value, which agrees with the experimental data obtained in the case of a monotonically increasing load parameter [3]. It is known, however, that in certain situations crack growth may be observed for smaller values of the load parameter (subcritical fracture growth), in contrast to the theory of quasibrittle fracture. One of the most important and well-studied types of such a growth is the fatigue crack growth. In spite of the fact that fracture mechanics gives an acceptable description of the laws of such growth, it does not explain why the fatigue crack grows, unless we introduce some additional crack growth criteria.

An attempt to overcome this difficulty is undertaken in the present paper, which continues the studies started in [4, 5]. Our aim is to create a unified mathematical model of quasistatic fracture growth in elastic-plastic media - a model adequately describing both the stable growth of a crack under a monotonically increasing load and its fatigue growth under the constraints ensuring quasibrittle fracture. The creation of such a model requires that stresses and strains be calculated in the plastic region near the crack tip, and therefore, we have to pass from linear to nonlinear fracture mechanics. This leads us to the problem of singular points, since the fields of stresses and strains have singularities at the crack tip [3]. The problem of singularities exists also in linear fracture mechanics, but in this case it can be easily solved on the basis of reliable methods which allow us to find the stresses and the strains near the crack tip. This is possible because the character of the singular solution is known beforehand; thus, all successful numerical methods reproduce this solution. The situation is different when solving the elastic-plastic problem. The asymptotics of the stress field near the crack tip in the framework of linear fracture mechanics is known [3]. Under certain additional assumptions, the asymptotics of the stress field in nonlinear fracture mechanics is also known (the HRR-asymptotics [3]). These two types of asymptotic behavior are quite different. But there is no method of solving plasticity problems, like the Il'yushin method of elastic solutions, that would allow us to construct a numerical algorithm for obtaining the HRR-asymptotics.

The singularity of stresses and strains at the crack tip is not a physical property (in reality, infinite stresses or strains does not occur), but an attribute of its mathematical description. This description can be changed so as to eliminate singularities. Suppose that there are interaction forces between the edges of a crack (called adhesion forces) distributed in such a way that the crack tip ceases to be a singular point of the stress-strain state. This assumption has been stated independently by Leonov and Panasyuk [7], Barenblatt [8-10], and Dugdale [11], whose arguments are based on previous investigations (see [12, 13]). Solutions of elastic-plastic problems with adhesion forces are considered in [14-18] and elsewhere. These publications do not even discuss the possibility of applying the theory of adhesion forces in mathematical models of fatigue crack growth. It turns out that if we know how to calculate stresses and strains near the crack tip (and the introduction of adhesion forces allows us to do this correctly - by the method of elastic solutions [6]), we can model the motion of the crack not only as the load parameter grows (and the crack increases), but also as the load parameter decreases (and the crack becomes shorter). The equations describing these processes, the numerical algorithms, and some calculation results are given below.
References
1.  G. R. Irwin, "Fracture dynamics," in Fracturing of Metals, ASM, Cleveland, pp. 157-166, 1948.
2.  E. Orowan, "Fundamentals of brittle behavior of metals," in Fatigue and Fracture of Metals, pp. 139-167, Wiley, New York, 1950.
3.  K. Hellan, Introduction to Fracture Mechanics [Russian translation], Mir, Moscow, 1988.
4.  I. M. Lavit, "A mathematical model of quasistatic crack growth in an elastic-plastic medium. 1. Basic assumptions and statement of boundary value problems," Izv. Tulsk. Univ., Mat., Mekh., Inform., Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 118-123, 1997.
5.  I. M. Lavit, "A mathematical model of quasistatic crack growth in an elastic-plastic medium. 2. Numerical algorithm and calculation results," Izv. Tulsk. Univ., Mat., Mekh., Inform., Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 124-129, 1997.
6.  A. A. Il'yushin, Plasticity. Part I. Elastic-Plastic Deformations [in Russian], Gostekhizdat, Moscow, Leningrad, 1948.
7.  M. Ya. Leonov and V. V. Panasyuk, "Propagation of cracks in solid bodies," Prikl. Mekh., Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 391-401, 1959.
8.  G. I. Barenblatt, "On equilibrium cracks in brittle bodies. General ideas and hypotheses. Axially symmetric cracks," PMM [Applied Mathematics and Mechanics], Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 434-444, 1959.
9.  G. I. Barenblatt, "On equilibrium cracks in brittle bodies. Rectilinear cracks in plates," PMM [Applied Mathematics and Mechanics], Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 706-721, 1959.
10.  G. I. Barenblatt, "On equilibrium cracks in brittle bodies. Stability of isolated cracks. Relation to energy theories," PMM [Applied Mathematics and Mechanics], Vol. 23, No. 5, pp. 893-900, 1959.
11.  D. S. Dugdale, "Yielding of steel sheets containing slits," J. Mech. and Phys, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 100-104, 1960.
12.  G. I. Barenblatt, "Mathematical theory of equilibrium cracks in brittle bodies," Zh. Prikl. Mekh. i Tekhn. Fiziki, No. 4, pp. 3-56, 1961.
13.  G. Goodier, "Mathematical theory of equilibrium cracks" [Russian translation], in Fracture. Vol. 2, Mir, Moscow, 1975.
14.  I. M. Lavit, "On the stable growth of a crack in an elastic-plastic material," Problemy Prochnosti, No. 7, pp. 18-23, 1988.
15.  I. M. Lavit and L. A. Tolokonnikov, "Thermoelastic-plastic problem of fracture mechanics for a hollow cylinder with internal cracks," in Applied problems of Strength and Plasticity. Methods of Solution [in Russian], pp. 56-61, Izd-vo Gorkovsk. Un-ta, Gorky, 1990.
16.  A. Cornec, H. Yuan, and G. Lin, "Cohesive zone model for ductile fracture," GKSS Rept., No. E73, pp. 269-274, 1994.
17.  V. Tvergaard and J. W. Hutchinson, "The relation between crack growth resistance and fracture process parameters in elastic-plastic solids," J. Mech. and Phys. Solids, Vol. 40, No. 6, pp. 1377-1397, 1992.
18.  I. M. Lavit and L. A. Tolokonnikov, "Investigation of crack growth in an elastic-plastic material," in Proceedings of the 9-th Conference on Strength and Plasticity, Vol. 1, pp. 114-119, IPM RAN, Moscow, 1996.
19.  G. I. Barenblatt, "On some problems in brittle fracture mechanics," Inzh. Zh. MTT, No. 6, pp. 153-163, 1968.
20.  I. M. Strojman, Cold Welding of Metals [in Russian], Mashinostroenie, Leningrad, 1985.
21.  J. T. Hahn, B. L. Averbach, B. C. Owen, and M. Cohen, "Initiation of microcleavage in polycrystalline iron and steel" [Russian translation], in Atomic Mechanism of Fracture, pp. 109-134, Metallurgizdat, Moscow, 1963.
22.  A. I. Lur'e, Theory of Elasticity [in Russian], Nauka, Moscow, 1979.
23.  G. Reiss, "Mathematical methods in fracture mechanics" [Russian translation], in Fracture. Volume 2, pp. 204-335, Mir, Moscow, 1975.
24.  J. Nott, "Fracture mechanics" [Russian translation], in Atomistics of Fracture, pp. 145-176, Mir, Moscow, 1987.
Received 18 September 1998
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