Issue 41

J.M. Vasco-Olmo et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 41 (2017) 166-174; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.41.23 167 I NTRODUCTION t has long been recognised in the fracture mechanics community that identifying plastic zone shape and size, and any influences of the plastic zone on a growing fatigue crack is relatively complex whether attempted by simulation or experiment. In simulation work, predictions are usually based on a purely elastic theoretical modelling of crack tip stress fields. Experimentally, determination of the plastically deformed region surrounding a growing fatigue crack has been pursued using a variety of techniques to identify the dimensions of crack tip plastic zones. Uguz and Martin [1] provide a useful review of the early experimental work on characterising the crack tip plastic zone; this includes techniques based on microhardness measurements, etching, optical interference, micro-strain gauge and electron microscopy. Modern numerical modelling techniques and advanced experimental techniques, including synchrotron diffraction and tomography [2], digital image correlation (DIC) [3], thermography [4] and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) [5] have started to unlock the potential of full-field measurements in determining crack tip stress intensity factors, residual stresses, strains and hence plastic zone dimensions. Most of the reported works to predict plastic zone size and shape at the crack tip employ approaches based on Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM), such as Irwin’ [6] or Dugdale’s [7] estimates, or the model based on Westergaard equations [8], among others. However, these are simplistic approaches and, therefore there is a clear application field consisting in combining full field measurement techniques with an improved model of the crack tip stress field that attempts to better incorporate the influence on the elastic stress field driving growth, of any stresses induced by the plastically deformed region that surrounds a growing fatigue crack. The objective of the current work is the experimental determination of the plastic zone size and shape by using DIC in titanium compact tension specimens, and then to evaluate the capability of three crack tip field models to characterise stress or displacement and hence to predict plastic zone size and shape. The three models considered in this work are the Westergaard crack tip stress equations, Williams’ expansion series for crack tip stresses and the recently developed CJP model [9] for crack tip displacement fields. D ESCRIPTION OF THE MODELS FOR THE CHARACTERISATION OF CRACK TIP FIELDS W ESTERGAARD EQUATIONS ccording to the Westergaard equations, the stress field around the crack tip [8] is described using the stress intensity factors (SIFs), K I and K II , the T-stress ( T ) and a polar coordinate system with its origin at the crack tip. Crack tip stress fields are then defined as:                                                                           0 0 2 3 2 1 2 2 3 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 2 3 2 1 2 3 2 1 2 2 T sin sin cos sin cos sin cos cos sin r K cos sin sin sin sin sin cos r K II I xy y x                      (1) In a similar way, crack tip displacement fields [8] are described as:                                                                                            sin cos r G T sin cos cos sin r G K cos sin sin cos r G K v u II I 3 1 8 2 21 2 2 21 2 2 2 2 21 2 2 21 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 (2) where G = E /2(1+ ν ) is the shear modulus, E and ν are the Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio of the material respectively, and к = (3- ν )/(1+ ν ) for plane stress or к = 3-4 ν for strain plain. I A