Issue 35

S. El Kabir et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 35 (2016) 64-73; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.35.08 65 I NTRODUCTION ivil engineering and mechanical structures are usually submitted to mixed mode loading. As a consequence, a mixed mode crack growth process occurs. This fact appears again as an important key in the case of wood material due to its orthotropic behavior and heterogeneous character of the material. Also, in order to know the real impact of time effects on the damage process during creep crack growth tests, it is necessary to separate fracture effects and time effect. In this case, Moutou Pitti & al [1] have proposed new specimen for mixed mode fracture of wood called Mixed Mode Crack Growth (MMCG), Fig. 1 (c). This specimen is a combination of a modified Double Cantilever Beam (DCB) developed by Dubois, but just usable in opening mode [2], Fig. 1 (a), and a Cantilever Tension Shear (CTS) specimen developed by Richard [3,4] and used by Ma and Zhang for metallic material [5] and adapted by Valentin and Caumes for timber material [3], Fig. 1 (b). (a) (b) (c) Figure 1 : (a) Modified Double Cantilever Beam DCB specimen [2] . (b) Cantilever Tension Shear CTS specimen [6] . (c) Mixed mode Crack Growth MMCG specimen [1] . Although, according to its large sizes, the MMCG specimen developed by Moutou Pitti & al [1] is not adapted to all humidity and temperature test chambers. It is necessary to have specimens with various dimensions to realize experiment tests in different configurations, in order to evaluate fracture parameters, and to study thermo-mechanics and mechano-sorptive effects [2]. Based on the previous specimen [1], we propose to study three different size ratios and three thickness ratios ¾, ½, ¼, according to the initial MMCG geometry. For each case we plot the evolution of the energy release rate versus the crack length. The numerical analyses of crack path under mixed mode loading are performed as function of contour integral. The M θ integral allows determining the crack growth behavior under mixed mode ratio. The computation is realized for an orthotropic elastic material assuming a plane stress state. In the present work, in order to determine the crack stability in the opening mode, shear mode and mixed mode, we analyze several new sizes and thicknesses of the MMCG specimen. The first section recalls some integral parameters that we use in calculating the energy release rate around the crack tip. The second part presents a MMCG specimen as proposed by Moutou Pitti e& al [1], including its design and geometry and some results under mixed mode for 45°. The last section introduces some new dimensions of a MMCG specimen under different loadings and gives for each case the evolution of the energy release rate versus the crack length. Crack growth stability in mixed mode is justified by the decrease of the energy release rate along the crack path. I NTEGRAL PARAMETER n this section we present the path integral which enabled us to obtain the energy release rate G under mixed mode solicitation. A path independent integral is equivalent to the energy release rate. For cracked linear elastic material, Rice [7] have used J-integral to compute energy release rate for curvilinear contour. J-integral takes the following notation: 1 1 1 i ij j j u J F n n n d G a                  (1) L R C I