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The Path of a Growing Crack – A Simulation of the Fracture Process
Last modified: 2013-03-12
Abstract
The growth of a crack subjected to corrosion fatigue is studied usingadaptive finite elements. The crack is the image of a deep corrosion pit, and the growthis the result of a repeated cycle of dissolution of the material, formation of a protectiveoxide film and break-down of the oxide film. The break-down of the film is governed bythe strain at the surface and the dissolution rate is assumed to be proportional to thisstretching. A threshold strain is assumed to exist below which the oxide film remainsintact. With this model, no criterion is needed, neither for crack growth, nor forprediction of the growth direction. The reason is that both are immediate results of theevolution of the body shape. The growth of a semi-infinite crack lying in an infinite stripsubjected to different degrees of mixed-mode loading is studied and the results arecompared to crack path criteria for sharp cracks. Additionally, the path of a corrosionfatigue crack starting at the surface of an elastic layer attached to a stiff substrate issimulated. The result showed some agreement with experimental results found in theliterature.
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