International Journal of Mechanical and Production Engineering Research and Development (IJMPERD ) ISSN 2249-6890 Vol.

2 Issue 2 June 2012 68-78 TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.,

SIMULATION OF THE CRACK PROPAGATION USING FRACTURE MECHANICS TECHNIQUES IN TITANIUM-BASED ALLOY SKIN
G. GURUMAHESH1 & Y. SURESH BABU2
1,2

Rajiv Gandhi Memorial College of Engineering And Technology, Nandyal, A.P, India.

ABSTRACT
The focus of this project is to investigate how a crack propagates and grows in a typical Ti-6Al-4V material plate. By using the finite element method software (ANSYS13) were used to simulate crack growth and to compute the stresses and the stress-intensity factor. A specific plate design was selected and a corner crack was investigated. This configuration was used since the engineers often detect this type of crack in plates. The Von Mises stress near the crack tip is compared against the yield strength of the material. The Mode I stress-intensity factor is compared against the materials fracture toughness.

The results show that the plate can tolerate small cracks in the structure. The fatigue strength of the structure is recommended to be assessed in the future.

KEYWORDS: Fracture Mechanics, Alloy Skin, Titanium. INTRODUCTION/LITERATURE REVIEW

Airliners progressively more demand for high performance and fuel-efficient aircraftsdue to the increasing gasoline price. In order tomeet the market needs, original equipment manufacturers are developing smaller and lighter aircraft engines. Industry analysts components in the next decades to be very space efficient. are expecting the engine

As a result, light but high strength

materials are very valuable and competitively sourced to reduce weight and cost in manufacturing aircraft engine. Aero engine designers design component in various shapes and sizes for mounting bleed air ducting, starter air duct, fuel lines and hydraulic lines to the engine core. One can find more than one hundred mounting points in an engine. Many of the ducting supports have the shapes of L, T and Z (multiple bends) to accommodate multiple tubes in the tight space found in an aircraft engine. In general, the plate thickness ranges from .125 to .500 inch because the plate not only must be thin to reduce weight and cost, but also must be functional and serve its purposes in the extreme environment, e.g. Extremely high temperature, combination of vibration load, bending moment and maneuver load. Any crack found in a plate may cause the ducting to become unstable during a mission, and thus induce high cycle fatigue load on the overall major structures and shorten the structures life. From the economic standpoint, it is a cost saving strategy to replace brackets before they are completely damaged due to replacing broken machine plate components mitigates the risk of damaging other major components, such as the ducting, which are more costly to replace. Besides, replacing a bracket before it completely breaks can avoid

many engineering catastrophes and save many lives. On the other hand, knowing the fatigue life of a

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Simulation of the Crack Propagation using Fracture Mechanics Techniques in Titanium-Based Alloy Skin

component, a mechanic can plan the inspection interval accordingly. Nickel based alloys such as Inconel 718 and Inconel 625 are widely used in aerospace industry for ducting and brackets. However, according to Honnorat [2], only titanium alloys could satisfy the requirement and the increasing demand for high strength per weight materials that needed for a wide range of components. According to the unknown author on World Wide Web, Wikipedia [4], many aircraft use titanium due to their high tensile strength to density ratio, high corrosion resistance, fatigue resistance, high crack resistance, and ability to withstand moderately high temperatures without creeping. Honnorat wrote in his paper in 1996 that jet engine designers use more and more titanium in both commercial and military projects, attaining contents as high as 30% ofthe total engine mass in the commercial and 40% in the military projects [2]. Hisstatistic is consistent with recent data found on internet that about two thirds of alltitanium metal produced is used in aircraft engines and frames [4]. In fact, many engine applications that use titanium include rotors, compressor blades, hydraulic system components, and nacelles. Among all the titanium-based alloys, according to Immarigeon et al, Ti-6-4

is by far the most widely used, accounting for almost half of all titanium used in aircraft [3]. Besides, he also mentioned Ti-6-2-4-2 is the other type of Titanium-based alloy widely used in engines, which is stronger and more creep-resistant than Ti-6-4 [3]. According to Immarigeon et al [3], titanium-based alloys are widely used in engine applications because the material can increase the strength-to-weight ratio in structures and provide heat resistance with weight savings. The materials behaviour under aggressive environment as well as impact loads make them attractive for aero engine applications [2].Their relatively lowdensity decreases the magnitude ofvibration problems [2]. However, the

significant weight savings permitted by these titanium application developments generates specific drawbacks that needed particular technological developments. Among the most important concerns are

the brittle inclusions, which are difficult to detect by non-destructive testing, and can initiate cracks and an early failure of the structures [2]. Materials imperfections due to manufacturing process, for example, voids and impurities develop flaws that can cause a material to become weak.

PROBLEM STATEMENT
Cracks often develop in the corners of a structural member due to high stress concentration factor in those areas. If one can calculate the rate of crack growth, an engineer can schedule inspection accordingly and repair or replace the part before failure happens. Moreover, being able to predict the path of a crack helps a designer to incorporate adequate geometric tolerance in structural design to increase the part life. While producing durable, reliable and safe structures are the goals of every aerospace component manufacturer, there are technical challenges that are not easy to be solved. Given limited engine design space, engineers strive to optimize using material geometry to produce high efficient and high performance engines that will operate at minimum weight and cost. Engineers often look to shave materials from component and design the thinnest possible components. Benefits from this approach include reduced weight, and smaller probability of encountering brittleness inducing microstructural defects. The focus of this paper is to investigate the corner crack growth in a

titanium-based alloy plate. This paper will examine the stresses near the crack tip, compute the stress-

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intensity factors and compare it against material toughness to determine the influence of the crack on the plate.

METHODOLOGY
Engineers strive to optimize part geometry by designing the thinnest possible components because this approach not only reduce engine weight but also reduce the risk of brittle structure often found in bulk materials. Being able to determine the rate of crack growth, an engineer can schedule inspection accordingly and repair or replace the part before failure happens. Being able to predict the

path of a crack helps a designer to incorporate adequate geometric tolerance in structural design to increase the part life. The methodology used to investigate the mechanics of crack propagation consists of the following steps: Model creation Elastic stress analysis of the UNcracked body Flaw implementation Crack propagation Elastic stress analysis of the cracked body Calculation of stress intensity factor Interpretation of results

MODEL AND MATERIAL PROPERTIES

Model is having with the dimensions of 100 mm in height, 200 mm in width,and 10 mm in thickness. In addition, the boundary condition chosen by Thomas for his optimum plate research was applied to the plate in this study. At the base of the plate, one end is clamped in all degree of freedom, while the other end is a slider. The plate is pulled downward and top of the section.

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Simulation of the Crack Propagation using Fracture Mechanics Techniques in Titanium-Based Alloy Skin

Among all the titanium based alloys, according to Immarigeon et al [3], Ti-6Al-4V is by far the most widely used, accounting for almost half of all titanium used in aircraft because the material can increase the strength+to+weight ratio in structures and provide heat resistance with weight savings. However, the significant weight savings permitted by these titanium application developments generate specific drawbacks that need particular technological developments. Among the most important concerns are brittle inclusions, which are difficult to detect by non-destructive testing, can initiate cracks and produce early failure of the structures [2]. Materials imperfections due to manufacturing process, for example, voids and impurities can develop flaws that may cause the material to become weak. For those reasons, the material chosen in this study is Titanium+6Al+4V and the properties are summarized in Table 1.

Table 1 : Material properties of Titanium-6-Al-4V

Material Properties Density Tensile strength, ultimate Tensile strength, yield Elongation at break Modulus of elasticity Compressive yield strength Notched tensile strength Poissions ratio Fatigue strength 4.43gm/cc 1170 Mpa 1100Mpa 10.0% 114 Gpa 1070 Mpa 1550 mpa 0.33 @no.of cycles 1.00e+7 160 Mpa @no.of cycles 1.00e+7 700 Mpa Fracture toughness Shear modulas Shear strength 43.0Mpa-m1/2 44.0 Gpa 760Mpa Ultimate shear strength Un notched Kt(stress concentration factor)=3.3 Kt(stress concentration factor)=6.7 Average of tension and compression Comments

a) Infinite plate with centre through crack under tension

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The concept of stress intensity factor plays a central role in fracture mechanics. We now refer to Tada [19] to present some classical examples of cracked geometries - represented in Figure 3 - for which the stress intensity factor has been computed or approximated explicitly. It is assumed that crack propagation may not occur, i.e., the problem is static.

b) Semi-Infinite plate with a center through crack under tension

Figure 3 The stress intensity values for these geometries are as follows, where the letters a) - d) used to identify the formulas are in correspondence with those of the pictures in figure 3 a) b) c) KI=(a): b) KI=1.1215(a) KI= (a) (1-0.025(a/b) 2+0.06(a/b) 4) (sec (a/2b)) ----------------------------------(1) (2) (3)

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Simulation of the Crack Propagation using Fracture Mechanics Techniques in Titanium-Based Alloy Skin

d)

KI= (a) ((2b/a) tan (a/2b)) 0.75+2.02(a/b) + 0.37(1-sin(a/2b)3)/cos(a/2b)) ----------(4)

The previous examples involved geometries of infinite dimensions. Ansys [1] computed the stress intensity factor for the finite geometry represented in Figure 4.

Fig. 4 : Finite plates with a centre through crack under tension He considered a rectangular plate, of height 2h, width 2b, with a central through crack of length 2a, which was loaded from its upper and lower edges by a uniform tensile stress (). For this particular geometry, he estimated KI= (a)(1+0.043(a/b)+0.491(a/b)2+7.125(a/b)3-28.403(a/b)4+59.583(a/b)5-65.278(a/b)6+29.762(a/b)7 (5) Using the numerical package Ansys 13, we also determined the value of the stress intensity factor KI for the same geometry. This was computed using finite elements on a mesh with quadratic triangular elements on the vicinity of the crack tip, and quadratic rectangular elements everywhere else. Quarter point elements, formed by placing the mid-side node near the crack tip at the quarter point, were used to account for the crack singularity. More details can be seen in [4]. In Table 2 we display some values of KI/K0, whereK0 =a, up to two significant digits. It can be seen that our results, identified by theoretical values by using of empirical formulas, are in line with those predicted by Ansys, and even more so for smaller values of a/b. We further illustrate this analysis in Figure 5, for which more data points were taken.

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Table 2 : Stress intensity factors a/b=0.1 Ansys Theoretical 1.01 1.01 a/b=0.2 1.07 1.06 a/b=0.4 1.24 1.22 a/b=0.6 1.50 1.48 a/b=0.8 2.02 1.97

2.5

1.5 Ansys 1 Theoretical

0.5

0 a/b=0.1 a/b=0.2 a/b=0.4 a/b=0.6 a/b=0.8

Figure 5 As we had already mentioned, the stress intensity factor depends on the geometry of the plate we are considering. In particular, it depends on the ratio h/b. On Table 3 we display the values of KI/K0, determined again using Ansys, for different geometries. Table 3 : Values of KI/KO for different geometries a/b=0.1 h/b=0.25 h/b=0.5 h/b=1 h/b=2 h/b= 1.17 1.04 1.01 1.01 1.01 a/b=0.2 1.57 1.17 1.06 1.02 1.02 a/b=0.4 2.65 1.63 1.22 1.11 1.11 a/b=0.6 4.03 2.42 1.48 1.30 1.30 a/b=0.8 7.44 3.77 1.99 1.81 1.81

We note that as the value of h/b increases, the values of KI/K0 tend to the values of the last line (h/b=), which refers to values that we would expect for an infinite stripe with a centre through crack under tension, as in Figure 3-c. We have computed these using the values of KI from the formula c). To better illustrate this idea, we conclude with the graphical representations of the values of Table 3 on Figure 6.

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Simulation of the Crack Propagation using Fracture Mechanics Techniques in Titanium-Based Alloy Skin

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 a/b=0.1 a/b=0.2 a/b=0.4 a/b=0.6 a/b=0.8 h/b=0.25 h/b=0.5 h/b=1 h/b=2 h/b=

Figure 6

SIMULATION OF CRACK GROWTH

A static fracture analysis was performed, where the goal was merely to compute the stress intensity factors. Now, we are ready for a quasi-static analysis, which means we now look into the actual propagation of the crack. We observe that this is not a dynamic analysis in the sense that dynamic effects such as wave propagation are not taken into account. The thing we have to do is to follow the position of the crack tip, as the propagation occurs. We use a step by step process. For that, we consider an increment a, which is the distance between two

consecutive points of the crack tip. Once a has been chosen, a possible algorithm will be as follows. Given: a step size a, the initial crack tip coordinates x (l) tip for l = 0. 1- Increment l; 2- Compute the values of the stress intensity factors, KI and KII; 3- Determine the angle of propagation p(K)using equation

4- Update the crack tip coordinates. 5- Back to step 1. We use Ansys and Mat lab to implement this algorithm with a= 0.025.We thus obtain a set of

consecutive crack tip coordinates, as displayed in Table 4. These constitute a discrete approximation for the crack path.

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Xtip 0 1 2 3 4 0.10 0.13 0.15 0.18 0.20

Ytip 0.10 0.095 0.090 0.088 0.086

Xtip 5 6 7 8 9 0.23 0.25 0.28 0.30 0.33

Ytip 0.085 0.084 0.084 0.084 0.084

Xtip 10 11 12 13 14 0.35 0.38 0.40 0.43 0.45

Ytip 0.085 0.085 0.086 0.088 0.089

Fig. 7 : Crack Tip Region

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Simulation of the Crack Propagation using Fracture Mechanics Techniques in Titanium-Based Alloy Skin

Initial crack

crack path n=6

Crack path n=15 Figure 8 Finally Figure 10 represents the deformed state of the plate for the initial crack, and again after 7 and 15 steps.

a)

Initial crack

b) crack path n=6

c) Crack path n=15

From these figures it seems that there is a tendency for the crack propagation to occur mainly in modeI, during continued fracture. This agrees with the predictions of [6, 9].

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REFERENCES
[1] M. H. Aliabadi and M. H. Lopez.Database of stress intensity factors.Computational Mechanics Publications, 1996. [2] S. N. Atluri. A path independent integrals in finite elasticity and inelas-ticity with body forces, inertia and arbitrary crack-face conditions.Eng.Fract. Mech, 16:341-364, 1982. [3] M. F. Ashby and D. R. Jones.Engineering materials 1, an introduction to their properties and applications, Butterworth Heinemann, 1996. [4] R. S. Barsoum. Triangular quarter-point elements as elastic and perfectly-plastic crack tip elements.Int. J. for Num. Meth.in Eng.,11:85-98, 1977. [5] D. Broek.Elementary engineering fracture mechanics. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 1986. [6] [7] [8] G. P. Cherepanov.Mechanics of Brittle Fracture.MacGraw-Hill, New York 1979. L. B. Freund.Dynamic Fracture Mechanics.Cambridge University Press, 1990. A. A. Griffith. The phenomena of rupture and flows in solids.Phil. Trans.Roy. Soc. London, A221:163-197, 1921. [9] D. Hegen.An Element-free Galerkin Method for Crack Propagation in Brittle Materials. PhD thesis, Eindhoven University of Technology, 1997. [10] C. E. Inglis. Stresses in a plate due to the presence of cracks and sharp corners.Proc.Inst. Naval Architects, 60, 1913. [11] G. R. Irwin. Analysis of stresses and strains near the end of a crack transversing a plate. Trans. A.S.M.E., J. Applied Mechanics, 361-364,1957. [12] G. R. Irwin. Fracture.Encyclopedia of Physics (Handbuch der Physic),Vol IV, Springer, Berlin, 1958. [13] G. R. Irwin. Fracture.Encyclopedia of Physics (Handbuch der Physic),Vol VI, Flugge (Ed.), Springer Verlag, Berlin 551-590, 1958.