Issue34

G Meneghetti et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 34 (2015) 109-115; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.34.11 111 Aims of the present contribution are as follows:  to recall the fundamental concepts of the PSM for pure modes of loading;  to present the extension of the PSM to the case of mixed mode (I+II) loading;  to investigate a link between the SED approach and the PSM in the case of mixed mode (I+II) loading. T HE P EAK S TRESS M ETHOD FOR PURE MODES OF LOADING he Peak Stress Method (PSM) is a simplified numerical method to estimate the NSIFs parameters. Originally it was formulated for cases where only mode I singular stresses exists (i.e. K 2 = 0 or mode II stresses are negligible). It has been based on a link between the exact value of mode I NSIF K 1 , see Eq. (1), and the linear elastic opening peak stress σ peak calculated at the V-notch tip according to the following expression [9]: 1 * 1 1 1.38 FE peak K K d       (4) The PSM according to Eq. (4) was applied to correlate the fatigue strength of fillet-, full penetration and butt welded joints subjected to mode I loading [18-20]. Recently the Peak Stress Method has been extended also to mode II crack problems, linking the exact value of mode II NSIF K 2 , see Eq. (2) with 2  = 0° and  2 = 0.5, and the linear elastic sliding peak stress τ peak calculated at the crack tip according to the following expression [10]: 2 ** 2 1 3.38 FE peak K K d       (5) In previous expressions d is the mean finite element size adopted when using the free mesh generation algorithm available in Ansys numerical code, while “exact NSIF values” must be meant as the values obtained using very refined FE mesh patterns in the numerical analyses and applying definitions (1) and (2) to the numerical results. Eqs. (4) and (5) are useful in practical applications because if the mean element size d is kept constant, then also K 1 /σ peak and K 2 /τ peak ratios are constant. Eqs. (4) and (5) are valid under the following conditions:  use of 4-node linear quadrilateral elements, as implemented in ANSYS ® numerical code (PLANE 42 of Ansys element library or alternatively PLANE 182 with K-option 1 set to 3);  the pattern of finite elements around the V-notch tip must be that shown in Fig. 2b (see also [9, 10]); in particular, four elements share the node located at the crack tip;  concerning Eq. (4), V-notches characterised by an opening angle 2  ranging from 0° to 135°;  the ratio a / d must be greater than 3 in order to obtain * 1.38 3% FE K   , a being the semi-crack length (or the notch depth when dealing with open V-notches). When mode II (sliding) stresses are of interest, meshes are more refined such that the ratio a / d must be greater than 14 in order to obtain ** 3.38 3% FE K   . T HE P EAK S TRESS M ETHOD FOR MIXED MODE (I+II) LOADING n the present paragraph the Peak Stress Method is extended to mixed mode (I+II) crack problems. Consider a crack (2α = 0°) centred in a plate having the geometry reported in Fig. 2a and subjected to tensile loading. By varying the inclination angle ϕ of the crack it is possible to obtain different mode mixities, from pure mode I ( ϕ = 0°) to mixed mode I+II ( ϕ > 0°) loading. Different geometrical combinations have been considered, varying the projected crack length 2h (from 5 to 80 mm) and the inclination ϕ (from 0° to 60°) as well as the size of the element d, with the aim to investigate to what extent the PSM holds true. Finite element analyses have been performed by using the commercial code Ansys ® and 4-node quadrilateral element (PLANE 42). The free mesh algorithm has been used in all numerical analyses and the sole control parameter set to generate the mesh has been the so-called ‘global element size’, i.e. the mean element size of the finite elements, which ranged from 0.5 mm to 10 mm. With the purpose of obtaining the pattern of finite T I