Issue 35

S. Glodež et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 35 (2016) 152-160; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.35.18 159 to determine the number of stress cycles N i required for formation of initial cracks. The crack propagation period, N p , has been determined using Paris equation, where the relationship between the stress intensity factor and crack length has been determined numerically using Abaqus-software. Here, the MTS-criterion has been considered when analyzing the crack path inside the lotus-type porous structure. The crack initiation and crack propagation period have been studied in seven subsequent critical cross sections between different pores as shown in Fig. 8. The total fatigue life, N , of the lotus-type porous structure under given boundary conditions has then been determined as a sum of N i and N p for all considered cross sections. Cross section No. Initial crack length a i [mm] Critical crack length a c [mm] Function  K eq = f( a ) Crack propagation period N p [cycles] 1 0.05 0.15 4E+08 a 2 +35734a+13.171 212 2 0.03 0.09 1E+09 a 2 +40056a+14.989 113 3 0.03 0.09 1E+09 a 2 +115195a+6.629 350 4 0.03 0.19 -4E+08 a 2 +139479a+6.189 1109 5 0.03 0.13 3E+08 a 2 +113530a+12.203 162 6 0.03 0.13 -5E+08 a 2 +119507a+10.049 519 7 0.03 0.11 -5E+07 a 2 +17932a+11.267 1099 Table 3 : Computational results for the crack propagation period. Figure 9 : Crack path in the lotus-type porous structure Computational results for the pores distribution in the transversal direction have shown that the number of stress cycles for the crack initiation in the individual cross sections varied between 307 and 731, while the number of stress cycles for the crack propagation until final breakage of individual cross section varied between 113 and 1109, which correspond to the regime of low cycle fatigue. Computational results have also shown that quite uniform stress distribution appears in the case when loading is acting along longitudinal direction of pores. Therefore, the appropriate longer fatigue life could be expected in that case.