Stress Intensity Factor and Crack Tip Stresses

Crack tips produce a singularity. The stress fields near a crack tip of an isotropic
linear elastic material can be expressed as a product of and a function of with a
scaling factor K:

where the superscripts and subscripts I, II, and III denote the three different modes that
different loadings may be applied to a crack. The detailed breakdown of stresses and
displacements for each mode are summarized in this page. The factor K is called the
Stress Intensity Factor.

Stress Intensity Factor in Practice

Engineers are interested in the maximum stress near the crack tip and whether it exceeds
the fracture toughness. Thus, the stress intensity factor K is commonly expressed in
terms of the applied stresses at and .

For example, for a through crack in an infinite plate under uniform tension , the stress
intensity factor is
where a is one half of the width of the through crack. The dimension of K is

In the last few decades, many closed-form solutions of the stress intensity factor K for
simple configurations were derived. Some of the common ones are listed in the
following three categories: classic, specimen, and structure.

Stress Intensity Factor and Fracture Toughness

Based on the linear theory the stresses at the crack tip are infinity but in reality there is
always a plastic zone at the crack tip that limits the stresses to finite values. It is very
difficult to model and calculate the actual stresses in the plastic zone and compare them
to the maximum allowable stresses of the material to determine whether a crak is going
to grow or not.

An engineering approach is to perform a series of experiments and reach at a critical

stress intensity factor Kc for each material, called the fracture toughness of the
material. One can then determine the crack stability by comparing K and Kc directly.

Kc's for a number of common engineering materials are listed in this page.

Relationship between and K

Some literature may prefer using strain energy release rate over stress intensity factor
K. These two factors are however directly related by the following formulas:
The dimension of is

Stress Intensity Factor and Crack Tip Stresses

Crack tips produce a singularity. The stress fields near a crack tip of an isotropic
linear elastic material can be expressed as a product of and a function of with a
scaling factor K:

where the superscripts and subscripts I, II, and III denote the three different modes that
different loadings may be applied to a crack. The detailed breakdown of stresses and
displacements for each mode are summarized in this page. The factor K is called the
Stress Intensity Factor.

Stress Intensity Factor in Practice

Engineers are interested in the maximum stress near the crack tip and whether it exceeds
the fracture toughness. Thus, the stress intensity factor K is commonly expressed in
terms of the applied stresses at and .

For example, for a through crack in an infinite plate under uniform tension , the stress
intensity factor is

where a is one half of the width of the through crack. The dimension of K is

In the last few decades, many closed-form solutions of the stress intensity factor K for
simple configurations were derived. Some of the common ones are listed in the
following three categories: classic, specimen, and structure.

Stress Intensity Factor and Fracture Toughness

Based on the linear theory the stresses at the crack tip are infinity but in reality there is
always a plastic zone at the crack tip that limits the stresses to finite values. It is very
difficult to model and calculate the actual stresses in the plastic zone and compare them
to the maximum allowable stresses of the material to determine whether a crak is going
to grow or not.

An engineering approach is to perform a series of experiments and reach at a critical

stress intensity factor Kc for each material, called the fracture toughness of the
material. One can then determine the crack stability by comparing K and Kc directly.

Kc's for a number of common engineering materials are listed in this page.

Relationship between and K

Some literature may prefer using strain energy release rate over stress intensity factor
K. These two factors are however directly related by the following formulas:

The dimension of is