Issue 33

L. Malíková et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 33 (2015) 25-32; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.33.04 25 Focussed on characterization of crack tip fields Estimation of the crack propagation direction in a mixed-mode geometry via multi-parameter fracture criteria L. Malíková, V. Veselý Brno University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Institute of Structural Mechanics, Brno, Czech Republic malikova.l@fce.vutbr.cz , vesely.v1@fce.vutbr.cz S. Seitl Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v. v. i., Institute of Physics of Materials, Brno, Czech Republic seitl@ipm.cz A BSTRACT . The presented work introduces a numerical parametric study on the crack propagation direction under mixed-mode conditions (mode I + II). It is conducted for the geometry of an eccentric asymmetric four- point bending of a single edge notched beam specimen; various levels of mode-mixity are ensured by modifications in the crack length and crack eccentricity. The direction of crack propagation is estimated semi- analytically using both the maximum tangential stress criterion and the strain energy density criterion (implemented as a procedure within the used finite element computational code) as well as numerically (from verification reasons). Multi-parameter fracture mechanics is employed in the presented work for precise analytical evaluation of the stress field in the cracked specimen. This theory is based on description of the stress and deformation fields in the cracked body by means of their approximation using several initial terms of the Williams power series. Recent studies show that utilization of only first term of the series, which corresponds to the stress intensity factor (SIF), the single controlling parameter for the crack initiation and propagation assessment in brittle materials, is insufficient in many crack problems. It appears also in this study that the higher-order terms of the asymptotic crack-tip field are of great relevance for the conducted analysis, similarly to a number of other fracture phenomena (near-crack-tip stress field approximation, non-linear zone extent estimation, etc.). K EYWORDS . Near-crack-tip fields; Williams expansion; Crack propagation direction; Multi-parameter fracture criteria; Finite element analysis. I NTRODUCTION t is well known that the classical (one-parameter) fracture mechanics concept is based on the existence of the stress intensity factor that expresses the amplitude of the singular term describing the stress distribution in a cracked specimen. Nevertheless, this approach exhibits several limitations and one of them is the extent of the zone of non- linear behavior that has to be small enough in comparison to the typical structural dimensions. It is obvious that this restriction is too strong for a large group of materials, such as the quasi-brittle or the elastic-plastic ones. Fracture processes occurring in these cases are more complicated and many works have been concerned with developing I