A centrally cracked thin circular disk. I: 3D elastic-plastic finite element analysis. II: Mixed mode fatigue crack propagation. (Q1973569)

This two-part paper is devoted to the study of elastic-plastic and mixed-mode fatigue fractures of the centrally through-thickness cracked thin circular disk. In the first part, 3D finite element analysis is adopted to study the combined effect of geometry and finite thickness of the specimen on elastic-plastic crack tip stress-strain fields. In particular, it is studied the effect of nonsingular T-stress on the near crack tip stresses and deformation in thin sheet under small scale yielding, and also the existence of the Hutchinson-Rice-Rosengren (HRR) plane stress field surrounding the 3D region, so that the J-integral can be used to characterize the near tip stress-strain state. To study the HRR plane stress dominance the full field solution is compared with the HRR plane stress solution. The present work also includes an assesment of the size of the 3D zone surrounding the crack tip. For the low hardening material the extent of the 3D zone is mapped and compared with the known experimental results. It is shown, that the HRR dominance is maintained at the outside of the 3D zone irrespective of the level of compressive T-stress, and J-integral can be used for crack initiation for this circular thin disk. The presence of compressive T-stress in the plastic zone significantly changes its shape and size, more than in the case of the boundary layer solution. Thus, the Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics approach is adopted in analysing the fatigue crack extension experiments performed in the disk and presented in Part II. In the second part, it is studied the branching behavior of a straight crack under nixed mode loading condition in a thin circular plate of aluminum 2024-O by changing its orientation to the applied far field uniaxial tensile fatigue loading. The susequent growth of the main crack is studied by producing the series of kinks and pseudo-asymmetric forks predominantly in the plane stress situation. In order to predict the direction of crack branching from the main crack and the directions, in which the successive kinks propagate, Sih's strain energy density criterion is employed. The growth behavior of each kink is discussed, and the prediction of number of applied load cycles required to reach any specific position on the trajectory is performed. The analysis is based on the Sih-Barthelamy's strain energy density concept applied to fatigue crack propagation. Some merits and demerits of the strain energy density criterion has considerable amount of disagreement with experimental values. It is concluded, that the negative biaxiality of the disk has influence on the kink initiation angles.