Issue 41

J.M. Vasco-Olmo et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 41 (2017) 166-174; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.41.23 171 Once the strain fields have been calculated, the next step is to determine the stress fields using Hooke’s law. The equivalent stress is calculated from the stress tensor either using the second invariant of the stress deviator (von Mises), or the difference of the maximum and minimum principal stress (Tresca). An estimate of the size and shape of the plastic zone is obtained by connecting all points where the yield criterion is met, i.e., where the equivalent stress is equal to the yield stress. Figs. 3a and 3b show the region of equivalent stress where the value exceeds the yield stress for both the von Mises and Tresca yield criteria. Thus, the plastic zone area can be easily identified from the surrounding elastic field. Figure 3 : Equivalent stress maps above the yield stress corresponding to von Mises (a) and Tresca (b) criteria for a crack length of 9.40 mm at a load level of 750 N. In this paper, the area of the plastic zone has been considered as a variable that contains information on both size and shape and which can therefore provide an efficient and powerful technique for making quantitative measurements. Once the plastic zone has been identified, the next step is to characterise its size by quantifying its area at the crack tip. Initially, a set of data points that define the equivalent yield stress contour of the plastic zone must be detected (Fig. 4a). Next, a triangulation function is applied to define the area enclosed by these data points (Fig. 4b). Finally, the plastic zone area can be calculated as the sum of the areas of all the triangles previously defined in the triangulation process. Figure 4 : (a) Detection of the data points defining the contour of the plastic zone. (b) Triangulation of the enclosed area for the selected contour. Indirect method for estimating the plastic zone The plastic zone estimated from experimental data will be compared with that predicted by the analytical models defining crack tip fields to validate the proposed methodology. In the literature, the two most popular methods used to estimate the plastic zone size are the Irwin and Dugdale approaches. Both approaches lead to simple estimates for crack tip plastic zone size based on elastic solutions. Therefore, it is more useful to estimate the size and shape of the plastic zone at all angles around the crack tip by applying a yield criterion to an analytical model that describes crack tip stress field. In this work, the three models described in the second will be used to find the plastic zone shape. The first step in this indirect method consists in determining the stress intensity factors in each crack tip stress model from analysis of the experimental displacement fields. The multi-point over-deterministic method developed by Sanford (b) (a)