ME293: Fracture Mechanics &

Applications
Course Instructor : R.Narasimhan
Course Contents
Introduction & Overview
Design against failure
Motivation for studying Fracture Mechanics
Evolution of Fracture Mechanics
Chap. 1: Energy Concepts in Fracture Mechanics
Atomistic view of fracture
Griffith energy balance & Irwin-Orowan extension
Energy release rate G; Compliance method
Crack growth stability and Resistance (R) curve
Chap. 2: Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics
Field equations of elasticity
Stress / displacement fields near crack tip Williams eigenfunction expansion.
Stress intensity factor (SIF) K and relation to applied load, fracture geometry
Relation between G and K
Fracture characterization by K Small scale yielding conditions
Irwins plastic zone correction; Dugdale model.
Fracture toughness K
c
Course Contents (continued )
Chap. 3: Analytical methods for determining SIF
Westergaard method
Principle of superposition
Greens function method
Weight function method
Chap. 4: Nonlinear Fracture Mechanics
J Integral
Plastic crack tip (HRR) fields
Ductile fracture criterion
J Integral Testing
J-controlled crack growth and stability
Engineering approach to Plastic Fracture
Course Contents (continued )
Chap.5 : Fatigue Failure
S-N Diagram and its limitations
Fatigue crack propagation Similitude concept; Empirical laws
Crack closure ; Fatigue Threshold
Variable amplitude loading ; Overload cycle
Damage Tolerant Design Methodology
Chap.6: Fracture of interfaces and thin films
Stresses and Failure modes in films.
Interface crack tip fields.
Crack kinking and crack deflection at interfaces
Crack channeling in thin films.
References
1. T.L.Anderson, Fracture Mechanics Fundamentals &
Applications, CRC press, 3
rd
Edn., 2005.
2. M.F.Kanninen and C.H.Popelar, Advanced Fracture Mechanics,
Oxford press, 1985.
3. D.Broek, Elementary Engineering Fracture Mechanics, Martinus
Nijhoff publishers, 1982.
4. Kare Hellan, Introduction to Fracture Mechanics, McGraw Hill,
1984.
5. Fracture Journals : Engineering Fracture Mechanics (Elsevier);
International Journal of Fracture (Springer); Fatigue and Fracture of
Engineering Materials and Structures (Blackwell).
Course Assessment
Sessionals Assessment : 2 or 3 class tests / quizzes (50 marks -
tentative)
Final exam : (50 marks tentative)
Introduction & Overview
Design against failure
Failure of a structural component may occur in different ways
Example : Consider thin cantilever beam
Failure mechanism Failure Criterion
Yielding Yield
Strength
A
x y
= =

max
=
c
= Max.
allowable displacement
Deflection above
certain limit
Design against failure
Failure Mechanism
Failure Criterion
Fatigue
N : # cycles to failure
S : Stress amplitude

e
: Endurance limit
Fracture
Fracture based design
Governing structural mechanics parameter in presence of crack (linear
elastic body) is Stress Intensity Factor or SIF K.
For cracked cantilever (small a/h) SIF can be approximated as :
Crack propagation occurs when
K = K
Ic
(Material property called
Fracture Toughness can be determined
from lab test)
max
max
2
1.12
6
K a
PL
where
Bh

=

max
: Maximum stress at crack location that would occur in absence of crack.
More accurate estimate should include a factor f(a/h) in above equation.
(Units : MPam or N m
-3/2
)
Strength based vs Fracture based Design
For example of cracked
cantilever beam, maximum load
for given crack length a :
S Factor of safety
Traditional Strength of Materials
approach requires :
2
6
(1.12 )
Ic
K Bh
P
LS
a
<
2
max
/
6
y y
Bh
S P
LS
< <
Note dependence of
maximum allowable load on
crack (or flaw) size
Damage Tolerance
Alternate application of Fracture Mechanics : Estimate maximum
sustainable (or critical) crack size for given load P. For example of cracked
cantilever beam :
Damage Tolerance : Allow cracks with a < a
c
(sub-critical) to remain
in the structure (w/o costly repair / replacement). Note sub-critical
crack growth may occur due to fluctuating loads / environmental
conditions (e.g. irradiation in nuclear pressure vessels / piping, etc.)
2
2
1
6 (1.12)
Ic
c
K Bh
a
LS P

=


Kinetics of Fatigue Crack Growth
For fluctuating load with SIF
amplitude K approximate rate of
crack growth (per cycle ) :
(m = 2 to 4 for most metals)
For environmentally assisted
cracking :
K : Amplitude of SIF (due to
fluctuating load). For cracked
cantilever : K ~ 1.12 a
( )
;
m
th
da
C K K K
dN
= >
;
n
scc
da
DK K K
dt
= >
Note eq.(1) is similar ro eq.(2)
when dN/dt = const and when
load P is cycled from 0 to max
value (or K: 0 K
max
)
(1)
(2)
Damage Tolerant Design Methodology (DTDM)
Initial flaw size a
o
is determined using
Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE)
methods like Ultrasonics or Acoustic
Emission.
Take a
o
= Min crack size that can be
detected by NDE method if no crack
is detected
In DTDM, one sets NDE-based
inspection intervals t
I
for the structural
component from time t estimated for
crack length to increase from a
o
to a
c
by
integrating crack kinetic relations (1) or
(2).
Take t
I
as fraction of t
typically : t
I
= t/3 so
that there will be minimum of
2 or 3 inspections before
crack becomes critical.
Adaptively change t
based on crack size found in
each inspection
Ref. Kanninen & Popelar
Application of Fracture Mechanics An Example
Leak-before-Break in pressure vessel / pipe.
Consider part-through surface crack
of length 2c and depth a on the inner
wall of a pressure vessel or pipe. It is
subjected to tensile circumferential
stress.
Considering the surface to be an
edge crack subjected to tensile stress
(K = 1.12 a) one can estimate
the critical crack depth a
c
Next considering a crack through the
wall thickness of length 2c subjected to
tensile stress (K = c ) one can
estimate critical crack length 2c
c
.
Thickness dependent K
c
has to be
used in calculating c
c
.
Flaws A and B are benign while flaw
C is dangerous. Flaw B leads to leak-
before-break and can help in
detecting the crack.
Motivation for studying Fracture Mechanics
Man has always had an intuitive
knowledge of Fracture
Mechanics.
Examples :
While cutting a tree we make a
V-notch on the trunk with an axe
(introduce a stress concn.) &
then pull it down with a rope.
Brick & mortar are weak under
tensile loads. Hence bridges,
windows, roof-spans, etc. built in
ancient times have arch shape
causes compressive stresses
to be transmitted.
Ref. Anderson, Fracture Mech.
Roman Bridge Design
Motivation for studying Fracture Mechanics
Leonardo Da Vinci measured strength of wires & found : strength 1/(wire
length) - because longer wire larger sample volume higher probability of
wire having a flaw.
Due to industrial revolution many kinds of m/cs and structures were made with
metals several failures due to fatigue & fracture in bridges, boilers, ships,
locomotive wheels & axles, rails, etc., in 19
th
century.
Accelerated production of aircrafts & ships during World War II : Led to some
serious failures.
Liberty ships : Cargo ships with all-welded hulls instead of riveted
construction used in earlier designs ; Sustained fractures (some broke
completely into two !) in cold waters of N.Atlantic.
Crack-like flaws present in welds had low K
Ic
(especially at low temperatures)
leading to catastrophic fracture .
Propagating cracks did not encounter any barriers in all-welded ships & were able
to traverse entire hull.
In riveted ships, cracks could not propagate across panels joined by rivets.
Motivation for studying Fracture Mechanics
Comet Jet aircraft : Many
accidents in early 1950s in
Comet Jet aircrafts due to rapid
propagation of cracks initiated
due fatigue loading near an
opening in fuselage.
Jetliner flying at high altitude is
like pressurized thin-walled
vessel (inside pressurized;
outside low atm pressure) with
fuselage under tensile stress.
Failure in Nuclear components :
Boilers, piping.
Thermal shock in nuclear
reactor vessels.
Degraded nuclear plant piping
Motivation for studying Fracture Mechanics
Development of new materials for high-tech applications has led to
fracture-related problems
Ceramics : In 80
s
and 90
s
ceramics were developed for structural
applications like in armours, high pressure jet engines, radomes etc.
High strength, good creep resistance, low thermal conductivity, etc.
Low K
Ic
~ 0.1 to 5 MPam compared to 50 to 100 MPam for metals.
Considerable research for improving K
Ic
Fibre / particulate reinforcements.
Sandwich (ceramic-metal) panels.
Transformation toughening (phase transformation).
Bulk Metallic glasses : Multi-component systems which solidify in
amorphous state.
Attractive mechanical properties (high strength / stiffness)
Can have low K
Ic
- considerable research is ongoing to improve toughness.
Motivation for studying Fracture Mechanics
Thin films / coatings - Thin ceramic,
metal, polymer coatings (thickness
varying from few nm to microns).
Applications like cutting tools, dental
implants, MEMS, optical systems, etc.
Prone to variety of failures due to
intrinsic / extrinsic stresses.
Intense research on failure of thin films
and interfaces in 90
s
and 2000
s
.
Summary : Study of Fracture
Mechanics is important to prevent
failures in critical engineering
components and to develop better
engineering materials.
Surface crack
Channeling
Substrate cracking
(crack penetration)
Crack deflection
& debonding
Spalling
Failure mechanism
Ref. Hutchinson / Suo: Adv
in Appl Mech. V.29, 1992
Evolution of Fracture Mechanics
In this course we will focus on Applied Mechanics
Griffith Energy Approach
Theoretical cohesive strength of materials (peak stress required to
break atomic bonds) is very high:
c
~ E/6 to E/3 much higher
than observed fracture strengths.
Griffith performed tensile tests with glass fibres of different thickness
& observed failure stress
f
with thickness :
Note:

f

f
bulk-glass
for large thickness

c
for very thin fibres
(Glass / graphite are useful
as reinforcements in
polymer-matrix composites).
Griffith postulated above behavior was caused by presence of cracks whose
size with fibre thickness.
Griffith Energy Approach
Griffith postulated :
Rate of decrease of = Energy required
PE wrt crack extension to create new surfaces
Griffith considered an infinite body containing a crack of length 2a
subjected to remote tensile stress
Using elasticity solution by Inglis for a
narrow elliptical void in an infinite plate
subjected to remote stress , Griffith
determined the potential energy (PE) of
cracked body as:
2 2
o
a B
E

=
2
s
A

(plane stress)
Griffith Energy Approach
Problems with Griffith theory :
Applies to crack of length 2a in infinite body.
Plastic yielding will occur near crack tip (due to large stresses).
Inglis solution may not apply.
Additional energy expended in plastic dissipation as crack grows.
Theory cannot be directly used in engineering applications because G is
not convenient parameter to compute for practical configurations.
G - Energy Release Rate
Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM)
George Irwin extended Griffith hypothesis & made it a sound
engineering discipline.
He replaced (2
s
) by (2
s
+
p
) where :
p
is additional plastic work
dissipated during creation of unit crack area A.
For structural metals Irwin & Orowan estimated
p
>> 2
s
(Griffith Irwin Orowan Theory of Fracture)
Using analysis of crack tip fields by Williams (based on an eigenfunction
approach) and Westergaard (based on complex variable method), Irwin
identified a new fracture characterizing parameter called Stress Intensity
Factor or SIF K.
Modes of Fracture
Y
Y
Y
Z
Z
Z
Mode I : Tensile or
Opening Mode
Crack faces open
symmetrically wrt X-Y &
X-Z planes
Mode II : In-plane
Sliding Mode
Crack faces slide
symmetrically wrt X-Y
plane &
anti-symmetrically wrt
X-Z plane
Mode III : Out-of-plane
Sliding Mode
Crack faces slide anti-
symmetrically wrt both X-Y
and X-Z planes.
Arbitrarily oriented & loaded crack : Superpose response in the three modes.
Linear Elastic Crack Tip Fields
Linear elastic analysis shows that the stress / displacement fields near the tip
for all three modes is of following form.
K : K
I
/ K
II
/ K
III
: SIF
for modes I, II , III .
f(), g(,) : Universal
functions : depend only
on modes I, II, III &
plane strain / plane
stress.
Note :
Stresses / strains are singular as 1/r as crack tip is approached ( r 0 ).
SIF K
I
/ K
II
/ K
III
uniquely characterizes near-tip field (at given (r, ) from tip)
irrespective of fracture geometry Concept of similitude.
SIF depends on applied load, crack length and other geometrical
parameters.
Importance of SIF K
If similitude applies, crack propagation can be postulated to occur
when :
K (,a) = K
c
K
I
= (a) for Griffith problem (crack of length 2a in infinite plate
subjected to remote tensile stress ).
Irwin showed SIF K is related to energy release rate by :
G = K
I
2
/ E for Mode I
Nonlinear Fracture Mechanics
LEFM predicts infinite stresses at crack tip Yielding will occur near crack
tip. Rice proposed concept of Small Scale Yielding (or SSY) to extend
application of LEFM theory (SIF-based) to ductile materials which show
yielding at crack tip.
Need alternate parameters to characterize fracture initiation.
J Integral (extension of Griffith energy release to nonlinear elastic solids).
Crack tip opening displacement (CTOD).
Nonlinear Fracture Mechanics
J-integral plays dual role during monotonic loading of a stationary
crack in a plastic solid :
Energy release rate.
Characterizing (amplitude) parameter of crack tip fields.
Crack tip stress / strain / displacement fields are described by the
Hutchinson / Rice / Rosengren (HRR) solution for plastic solids
obeying a power-law relation ( ~
n
)
Stresses behave as ~ r
-1/(n+1)
; Strains behave as ~ r
-n/(n+1)
as r 0
Experimental methods needed to determine ductile fracture
toughness J
c
- Multiple Specimen Testing; Single Specimen Testing; ASTM standard
test procedure
Handbook style approach (EPRI method) to estimate J for standard
lab specimens & some structural configurations
Dynamic Fracture Mechanics
Inertial effects important in fracture
analysis.
Stationary cracks subjected to dynamic
loading
SIF K(t) higher than static case due to
stress wave reflection & interaction effects.
Fracture criterion :
Dependence of K
dc
on influenced by
local failure mechanism :
CCP subjected to tensile pulse
Normalized SIF vs normalized time
) K ( K ) t ( K
dc I

=
K

Dynamic Fracture Mechanics

Rapidly propagating cracks
Stress distribution near crack tip depends on
crack speed v
Energy release rate G and K are related by
similar expressions as stationary cracks :
Generally K
I
0 as vc
R
& so also does G.
Crack propagation criterion :
( )
( , ) 0
2
I
ij ij
K t
v as r
r

=
2
I 1
2
K ) v ( f
E
1
G

=
( ) ( )
I pc
K t K v =
Crack Arrest Toughness
K
pc
vs crack speed for AISI
4340 steel
Brittle Fracture Mechanism in metals
Transgranular cleavage
Crack grows by cleavage of weak
crystallographic planes with little
plastic deformation (generally in
BCC & HCP metals due to limited
number of slip systems for plastic
flow).
Especially important in steels at low
temperature.
Cleavage cracks are initiated due to
fracture of small grain boundary
carbides or inclusions within grains.
Ref. Anderson, Fracture Mech.
Cleavage Fracture Mechanism in steels
Cleavage of individual grains in a
polycrystalline alloy gives a faceted
appearance.
Change in crack plane at grain boundaries
leads to river pattern-like features within
each facet.
By following river-patterns one can locate
the cleavage-triggering particle.
Cleavage fracture is statistical in nature
and depends on probability of sampling a
volume containing a cleavage-triggering
particle leads to scatter in fracture
toughness data.
Mechanism is stress-controlled and
characterized by low fracture energy.
Ref. Anderson, Fracture Mech.
Origin of river-patterns
Ductile or Fibrous Fracture Mechanism
Has 3 distinct stages :
Void nucleation (due to fracture or
debonding at inclusions / impurities)
Void growth (influenced by plastic
deformation of matrix and by high
hydrostatic stress).
Coalescence of growing voids
Direct impingement (due to necking
of ligaments connecting grown
voids).
Due to void sheeting coalescence
of small voids in ligaments bridging
two large voids.
Crack growth is generally stable and
shows high fracture energy.
Steels show brittle-ductile transition as
temperature increases above NDT.
Ref. Anderson, Fracture Mech.
Inter-granular crack growth
Under following conditions cracks can
form & propagate along grain
boundaries :
Precipitation of a brittle phase (due to
improper tempering) at grain
boundaries.
Hydrogen & liquid metal embrittlement.
Environmental assisted cracking &
intergranular corrosion.
Grain boundary cavitation & cracking
at high temperatures
Ref. Anderson, Fracture Mech.
Current Fracture Mechanics Research An Example
Bulk Metallic Glasses (BMGs) are new materials being developed exhibit
inhomogeneous plastic deformation by shear banding; Fracture occurs due to
cracking inside shear bands in ductile BMGs & by cavitation in brittle BMGs
Finite element modeling of shear
banding near notch tip Tandaiya
et.al., J.Mech.Phys.Solids, 2009
MD simulation of crack growth by cavitation
in a brittle BMG Falk , PRB, 1999