Issue 42

M. Peron et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 42 (2017) 214-222; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.42.23 220 Density [Kg/m 3 ] σ t [MPa] σ 0 ,TCD [MPa] 100 3.19 2.17 145 4.39 3.19 300 6.06 5.6 708 26.7 23.14 Table 7 : Comparison between stress of TCD method and SED method. Figure 4 : Ratio between the predictions of maximum loads and experimental loads using the new values of critical energy density. C ONCLUSIONS xcept some value, the relative errors is contained between +10 % and –22 %, a reasonable prediction in engineering field, Figs. 3 and 4. From these results it’s possible to notice that the SED method works for these foams and the parameters ( R c and W c ) can be determined through experimental tests on tensile notched specimens. In a research by Negru et al. (2015) it’s defined the inherent stress for the Theory of Critical Distance (TCD), an approach based on the same theory of SED method, they belong to the linear elastic mechanic fracture theory (LEFM). The inherent stress in TCD method is equivalent to the failure stress and this tension is defined in a different way: the stress σ t defined in this paper is compared with the inherent stress of TCD method, Tab. 6. Two different approach give values of the tensions very similar, with the same order of magnitude, this confirms that it’s possible to apply the SED method on these foams and the tensions σ t that valid the SED for each type of notch have the same order of magnitude and it’s similar. The personal approach works but the hypothesis that the control volume remains the same it’s only a personal view of the problem; this assumption it has been made only to prove that the PUR foams can be treated as a brittle materials and the SED approach can be applied, in fact the strain energy density defined through Eq. 3 differs less than ± 8% from the numerical strain energy density defined through the numerical investigations. It’s possible to define a new values of critical energy density for each density that permit to decrease the errors, in fact more than 95 % of the results are contained between ± 15 %, so the new values of W c fit better the results. The paper represents an entry level approach for the determination of the SED parameters for these foams, it’s necessary further studies and tests. E