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M.

Mirzaei, Fracture Mechanics

Fracture Mechanics
Lecture Notes: 1
Majid Mirzaei, PhD
Associate Professor
Dept. of Mechanical Eng., TMU
mmirzaei@modares.ac.ir
http://www.modares.ac.ir/eng/mmirzaei/FM.htm

Structural Design, an Overview


The ultimate goal in the field of applied solid mechanics is to be able to design structures
or components that are capable of safely withstanding static or dynamic service loads for
a certain period of time. In general, we may summarize the activities usually carried out
during design, manufacture, and testing of a product as shown in Figure 1.

Partitioning Integration

User Requirements User Tests Acceptance

System System Tests Verification


Requirements

Integration Assembly
Architecture Tests

Sub-Systems Sub-Systems
Detail Design
Tests

Manufacture

Figure 1

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M. Mirzaei, Fracture Mechanics

In the above process, most of the engineering decisions are based on semi-empirical
design rules, which rely on phenomenological failure criteria calibrated by means of
standard tests. The failure criteria are derived based on extensive observations of failure
mechanisms, together with theoretical models that have been developed to describe these
mechanisms.

In the view of the above arguments, perhaps one of the most important questions in the
design process would be: What Constitutes Mechanical Failure?

In general, various failure mechanisms may be classified into the two broad fields of
Deformation and Fracture. A more detailed list is:

Excessive Elastic Deformation


Unstable Elastic Deformation (Buckling)
Plastic Deformation
Fracture
Fatigue
Creep
Stress Corrosion Cracking

The occurrence of each failure mode depends on various factors as depicted in the
following figure.

Time Scale
Short, Long Environment
Corrosive?

Static
Time Dependent Elastic
Permanent

Deformation
Fracture Static
Time Dependent

Load: Temperature
Static, Dynamic

Figure 2

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M. Mirzaei, Fracture Mechanics

Evolution of Structural Design


The art of structural design has drastically evolved through the history of mankind. A
rather broad, but somehow specific, classification is:

I. Design Based on Previous successful designs


II. Introduction of the Stress and Strain Concepts
III. Strength of Materials Approach
IV. Theory of Elasticity Approach
V. Fracture Mechanics Approach

Design Philosophies:
For many applications, it’s sufficient to determine the maximum static or dynamic stress
that the material can withstand, and then design the structure to ensure that the stresses
remain below acceptable limits. This involves fairly routine constitutive modeling and
numerical or analytical solution of appropriate boundary value problems. More critical
applications require some kind of defect tolerance analysis. In these cases, the material
or structure is considered to contain flaws, and we must decide whether to replace the
part; or leave it in service under a more tolerable loading for a certain period of time. This
kind of decision is usually made using the disciplines of Fracture Mechanics. In
general, we may distinguish three different design philosophies as follows:

Safe Life: The component is considered to be free of defects after fabrication and is
designed to remain defect-free during service and withstand the maximum static or
dynamic working stresses for a certain period of time. If flaws, cracks, or similar
damages are visited during service the component should be discarded immediately.

Fail Safe: The component is designed to withstand the maximum static or dynamic
working stresses for a certain period of time in such a way that its probable failure would
not be catastrophic. For example a pressure vessel designed to work under the leak-
before-burst (LBB) condition should show leakage as a result of crack propagation. The
aim is to prevent catastrophic failure by detecting the crack at its early stages of growth
and also reducing the internal pressure.

Damage Tolerance: The component is designed to withstand the maximum static or


dynamic working stresses for a certain period of time even in presence of flaws, cracks,
or similar damages of certain geometry and size.

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M. Mirzaei, Fracture Mechanics

Fracture Mechanics
Fracture mechanics is a field of solid mechanics that deals with the mechanical behavior
of cracked bodies.

2
10
-8
10
-4
10
-2
100 10

Engineering Fracture Mechanics


Figure 3

The first major step in the direction of quantification of the effects of crack-like defects
was taken by a professor of Naval Architecture, C. E. Inglis. In 1913 he published a
stress analysis for an elliptical hole in an infinite linear elastic plate loaded at its outer
boundaries. By making the minor axis very much less than the major, a crack-like
discontinuity can be modeled.
σ0

X2

ξ0
σ0 η σ0
a X1
b

2C

σ0
Figure 4

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M. Mirzaei, Fracture Mechanics

The complete solution of the above problem is described in my lecture notes on the theory of
elasticity, http://www.modares.ac.ir/eng/mmirzaei/elasticity.htm (3. 2D Static Boundary Value
Problems : Plane Elasticity). The extremums of the stresses can be shown to be:

(σ ) a
max
η η = 0,π = 2σ 0
b
(1-1)
(ση )η =π , 3π = 2σ 0 b
min

2 2 a

The above equations show that as b → 0 (the ellipse becomes a crack) a stress singularity
develops at the crack tip.

A. A. Griffith, who was studying the effects of scratches and similar flaws on aircraft
engine components, transformed the Inglis analysis by calculating the effect of the crack
on the strain energy stored in an infinite cracked plate. He proposed that this energy,
which is a finite quantity, should be taken as a measure of the tendency of the crack to
propagate. Griffith also made a fundamental step forward by carrying out tests on cracked
glass spheres and showing that the simple elastic analysis could be applied to describe the
propagation of different size cracks at different stress levels.

The mechanics of fracture progressed from being a scientific curiosity to an engineering


discipline, primarily because of what happened to the Liberty ships during World War II.
The Liberty ships had an all-welded hull, as opposed to the riveted construction of
traditional ship designs. Of the roughly 2700 liberty ships build during World War II,
approximately 400 sustained fractures, of which 90 were considered serious. In 20 ships
the failure was essentially total, and about half of these broke completely in two.

Figure 5

After World War II, the fracture mechanics research group at the Naval Research
Laboratory was led by Dr. G.R. Irwin. Having studied the early work of Inglis, Griffith,
and others, Irwin found out that the basic tools needed to analyze fracture were already

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available. Irwin’s first major contribution was to extend the Griffith approach to metals
by including the energy dissipated by local plastic flow.

In 1956, Irwin developed the energy release rate concept, which is related to the Griffith
theory but is in a form that is more useful for solving engineering problems.

dΠ (1-2)
G=− ≥R
dA

Next, he used the Westergaard approach to show that the stresses and displacements near
the crack tip could be described by a single parameter that was related to the energy
release rate. This crack tip characterizing parameter later became known as the stress
intensity factor.

σ
M
P
σ
a1 σ
a2

σ P

Figure 6

All this work was largely ignored by engineers as it seemed too mathematical and it was
only in the 1970's that fracture mechanics, as we now know it, came to be accepted as a
useful and even essential tool. There were many reasons for this, for example, the
development of non-destructive examination methods which revealed hidden cracks in
structures and raised the problem of what to do about them, the space industry which
demanded high-strength, high integrity pressure vessels, the increasing use of welding
and the severe duty experienced by offshore structures, etc. Hence, most of the practical
development of fracture mechanics has occurred in the last thirty years.

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M. Mirzaei, Fracture Mechanics

Elasto-Plastic Fracture Mechanics


In the regime where the global stress-strain response of the body is linear and elastic
(LEFM), the elastic energy release rate, G, and the stress intensity factor K can be used
for characterizing cracks in structures. This issue will be studied in the Lecture Notes 2.

In the elastic-plastic region EPFM, also called yielding fracture mechanics (YFM), the
fracture characterizing parameters are the J-integral and the crack-tip-opening
displacement, CTOD.

The J contour integral is extensively used in fracture mechanics, as both the energy and
the stress based criteria, for determining the onset of crack growth. Referring to the
Figure below, the original form of the J-Integral for a line contour surrounding the crack
tip can be written as:

⎛ ∂u ⎞
J = ∫ ⎜ wdy − Ti i ⎟ds (1-3)
Γ⎝
∂x ⎠

M
y

Ti
T
P

Figure 7

In cases where fracture is accompanied by substantial plastic deformation, the whole


basis of the stress intensity approach breaks down. In such cases, an alternative
description of the crack tip state has been established, designated the ‘crack-tip-opening
displacement (CTOD) approach’. This idea is based on the experimental finding that
cracks tend to open up under load, as shown below in the ‘magnified’ view. The basis of
the CTOD approach is that forward propagation of the crack, as shown in the right figure,
should only occur when the CTOD reaches a specific value which is characteristic of the
material. This issue will be studied in the Lecture Notes 3.

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M. Mirzaei, Fracture Mechanics

CTODc

Figure 8

Fatigue
It has long been known that a component subjected to fluctuating stresses may fail at
stress levels much lower than its monotonic fracture strength, due to a process called
Fatigue. Fatigue is an insidious time-dependent type of failure which can occur without
any obvious warning. It is believed that more than 95 percent of all mechanical failures
can be attributed to fatigue. There are normally three distinct stages in the fatigue failure
of a component, namely: Crack Initiation, Incremental Crack Growth, and the Final
Fracture.

Figure 9

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M. Mirzaei, Fracture Mechanics

Classical Fatigue
The classical approach to fatigue, also referred to as Stress Controlled Fatigue or High
Cycle Fatigue (HCF), through S/N or Wöhler diagrams, constitutes the basis of the SAFE
LIFE philosophy in design against fatigue. In order to determine the strength of materials
under the action of fatigue loads, specimens with polished surfaces are subjected to
repeated or varying loads of specified magnitude while the stress reversals are counted up
to the destruction point. The number of the stress cycles to failure can be approximated
by the WOHLER or S-N DIAGRAM, a typical example of which is given below.

Figure 10

Low Cycle Fatigue


Based on the LCF local strain philosophy, fatigue cracks initiate as a result of repeated
plastic strain cycling at the locations of maximum strain concentration.

Figure 11

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M. Mirzaei, Fracture Mechanics

Fatigue Crack Propagation


If a crack exists in the component before it goes into service, for example due to weld
fabrication or from some other cause, the ‘initiation’ stage is by-passed and the fatigue
failure process is taken up entirely with incremental growth and final fracture. Most
fatigue failures in practice are in the low stress region, much less than the yield stress,
where the LEFM is likely to be valid. Hence, the LEFM principles can be applied to
predict incremental fatigue crack propagation. This issue will be studied in the Lecture
Notes 4.

Figure 12

Creep
Creep can be defined as a time-dependent deformation of materials under constant load
(stress). The resulting progressive deformation and the final rupture, can be considered
as two distinct, yet related, modes of failure. For metals, creep becomes important at
relatively high temperatures, i.e., above 0.3 of their melting point in Kelvin scale.
However, for polymers substantial creep can occur at room temperature.

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Figure 13

Creep Crack Growth


The two major parameters used for correlating creep crack growth data are the stress
intensity factor K and the integral C*. The time-dependent energy Integral, C* , is similar
to the J-Integral, but is written in terms of strain rates instead of strain:

⎛ ∂u ⎞
C * = ∫ ⎜ wdy
 − σ ij n j i ds ⎟ (1-4)
Γ⎝
∂x ⎠

This issue will be studied in the Lecture Notes 4.

Figure 14

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M. Mirzaei, Fracture Mechanics

Failure Analysis
One of the most significant applications of fracture mechanics is in the process of Failure
Analysis of components. Figure 15 shows the cracked Girth-Gear of an industrial Ball-
Mill. These gears are up to 12 meters in diameter and over 90 tones in weight, with a
manufacturing cost exceeding $500,000. These types of gears are expected to have
fatigue lives of 20 years and more. In this case history, within the first two years of
operation, a few cracks initiated from certain locations between the gussets and the gear
flange, and propagated towards the lightening holes, as shown in Fig. 15b. Since the
premature occurrence of several similar cracks in certain locations could be interpreted as
the possibility of a faulty design, it was decided to perform a complete stress analysis of
the mill using the finite element method. The analysis results clearly revealed the cause
of failure, i.e., high stress built-up in specific locations adjacent to the gear flange, and
conformed to various characteristics of the existing cracks, including their propagation
paths. This work also concerned the assessment of the remaining life of the gear through
modeling of crack growth in the high-stress region. In these analyses, semi-elliptical
cracks were modeled and grown through a variable stress field, and the crack driving
forces were calculated. The calculated crack growth rates were used to estimate the
remaining life of the gear. Such information is vitally important as it gives the mill
operators a timeframe to order a new gear and plan the replacement procedure.
Meanwhile they can safely operate the mill and save thousands of dollars per working
day. More details are reported in:
Mirzaei, M., Razmjoo,A., and Pourkamali, A., "Failure Analysis of the Girth Gear of an
Industrial Ball Mill," Proceedings of the 10th International Congress of Fracture, 2001,
(ICF10) USA.

Figure 15

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These notes have been prepared as a student aid and should not be considered as a book. Little
originality is claimed for these notes other than selection, organization, and presentation of the
material.

The following references have been used for preparation of the lecture notes and are recommended
for further study in this course.

References:

Anderson, “Fracture Mechanics Fundamentals and Applications.”


Meguid, “Engineering Fracture mechanics”
Kanninen, "Advanced Fracture Mechanics"
Dowling, "Mechanical Behavior of Materials"
“Structural Integrity Lecture Notes”, by Prof. Gray

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