Issue 35

S S. El Kabir et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 35 (2016) 64-73; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.35.08 72 Tab. 2 shows the stable crack growth zones for various new thickness parameters. The length of stable zones is the same for all cases. Let us analyze now the influence of the thickness on the energy release rate. As shown in Fig. 9, a thickness change results in a new value of the energy release rate. Figure 9 : Influence of / a b ratio on the energy release rate evolution The evolution of the energy release rate are not linearly dependent on the / a b ratio, see Fig. 9. The change of thickness has an impact on the MMCG specimen. We consider, in numerical computation by integral under the plane stress assumption, that the effort is divided by thickness. Dependencies of G 1 and G 2 versus / a b ratio are posted in Fig. 9 (a) and (b) respectively. We show the influence of the thickness parameter b on the MMCG specimen stability for various cases of the size parameter a . C ONCLUSION AND FUTURE EXTENSIONS n this work, different sizes and thicknesses of Mixed Mode Crack Growth (MMCG) specimen have been studied numerically. The evolution of the energy release rate versus the crack length for each new size and thickness of a new MMCG specimen have been determined. Numerical calculations have been performed for the ratio of mixed mode 45°. The stability is justified by the decrease of G versus crack length during the growth process in each mode. This parametric study shows the impact of size, thickness, and both parameters combined on the energy release rate coupled with the crack stability. The following conclusions can be drawn:  The MMCG specimen is stable for the parameters studied;  The smaller are the dimensions of the MMCG specimen, the more the stability is reduced;  The variation in thickness impacts the evolution of the energy release rate G . In future work, it will be necessary to extend the numerical computation to a pure opening mode, pure shear mode, and different angles in mixed mode in order to optimize MMCG specimen for larger stability zone. Also, experimental tests will be necessary to validate the numerical results. This study can be extended to perform new crack extension criteria under mixed mode loading [13, 14] for composite materials [15]. R EFERENCES [1] Moutou Pitti, R., Dubois, F., Pop, O., A proposed mixed-mode fracture specimen for wood under creep load, Int. J. Fract., 167(2011) 195–209. [2] Dubois, F., Chazal, C., Petit, C., Viscoelastic crack growth process in wood timbers: An approach by the finite element method for mode I fracture, Int. J. Fract., 113(4) (2002) 367-388. [3] Richard, H., Benitz, K., A loading device for the creation of mixed mode in fracture mechanics, Int. J. Fract., 22 (1983) 55-58. [4] Richard, H., A new compact shear specimen Int. J. Fract., 17 (1981) 105-107 [5] Ma, S., Zhang, X., Recho, N., Li, J., The mixed-mode investigation of the fatigue crack in CTS metallic specimen, Int. J. Fatig., 28 (2006) 1780–1790. 0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1 0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 3 0 0,05 0,1 0,15 0,2 0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 3 G 1 J / N 2   a  1 4 a  1 2 a b a  3 4 (a) G 2 J / N 2   a  1 4 a  1 2 a  3 4 a b (b) I