Issue 8

K. G. Kodancha et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 8 (2009) 45-51; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.08.04 45 Variation of Stress intensity factor and elastic T-stress along the crack-front in finite thickness plates K. G. Kodancha, S. K. Kudari Department of Automobile Engineering, B. V. B. College of Engineering & Technology, Hubli 580 031, India A BSTRACT . Non-singular terms in the series expansion of the elastic crack-tip stress fields, commonly referred to as the T-stress. The T-stress is as an additional stress field characterizing parameter to stress intensity factor (K) in the analysis of cracked bodies. T-stress is used as an important constraint parameter in the fracture analysis. In this investigation, three-dimensional finite element analyses have been conducted to compute the elastic T-stress considering a single edge notched tensile (SENT) specimen with varied thickness and a/W ratio. The results indicate that the T-stress depends on the specimen thickness and significantly varies along the crack- front from surface to centre of the specimen. The T-stress results obtained in the present analysis together with corresponding K I values can be used for analysis of constraint effects in a fracture specimen. K EYWORDS : E lastic T-stress; Stress intensity factor; Finite element method; Constraint issue. I NTRODUCTION he elastic T-stress, or the second term of the Williams [1] series expansion for linear elastic crack-tip fields, represents the stress acting parallel to the crack plane. The T-stress can strongly affect the magnitude of hydrostatic triaxiality in the near crack-tip elastic–plastic fields. It is well known that the sign and magnitude of T- stress can substantially alter the level of crack-tip stress triaxiality [2-4], hence influence crack-tip constraint. Positive T- stress strengthens the level of crack-tip stress triaxiality and leads to high crack-tip constraint; while negative T-stress reduces the level of crack-tip stress triaxiality and leads to the loss the crack-tip constraint. Several researchers [5-8] have shown that the T-stress, in addition to the K or J-integral, provides an effective two-parameter characterization of plane strain elastic–plastic crack-tip fields in a variety of crack configurations and loading conditions. The application of two- parameter fracture mechanics to include the constraint effect in the failure assessment procedure is becoming more and more established. In order to apply the two-parameter fracture mechanics methodology, it is important to provide T- stress solutions for the crack configuration under consideration. Many earlier investigators [9, 11] have provided T-stress solutions for 2D cracked bodies. However, study on variation of T-stress along the crack-front is very limited. Recently, Qu and Wang [12] using quarter-elliptical corner cracks have shown that the magnitude of T-stress varies along the quarter-elliptical corner crack-front. But dependence of T-stress along the crack-front in fracture specimens is not available. Hence, in the present investigation, detailed three-dimensional finite element analyses have been conducted to study the variation of the T-stress and K I along the crack-front considering a SENT specimen geometry having varied thickness and crack length to width ratio (a/W) subjected to tension load. F INITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS series of 3D stress analyses by finite element method have been made on SENT specimen using ABAQUS 6.5 [13] finite element software. The geometry of the specimen considered in this analysis is shown in Fig.1. Finite element computations were carried out considering only one half of the specimen due to the symmetry. The analysis domain is descritized using 20-noded isoparametric 3D solid reduced integration elements. These types of T A