Fracture Mechanics

Capabilities in Marc

Presenter Information
Zhong Qin @ Storrs, Connecticut
Lead Technical Representative
(12 years with MSC)
Primarily support Marc/Mentat, Nastran and Patran
Also familiar with Dytran, MSC.Fatigue, Laminate
Modeler,...

Education background
B.S., Mechanical Engineering
M.S., Mechanical Engineering
Ph.D., Computational Mechanics

Joe Satkunananthan @ Newport Beach, CA

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Seminar Agenda
Overview of fracture mechanics capabilities

J-Integral Lorenzi option

Virtual Crack Closure Technique VCCT option
Delamination crack initiation based on stress criterion
Crack propagation direct and fatigue

Simulation of crack propagation

Crack
Crack
Crack
Crack
Crack

initiation
propagation
propagation
propagation
propagation

types
methods
direction
criteria

Demo
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Fracture Mechanics - Overview

J-Integral
A path-independent contour integral
for the analysis of cracks
Equivalent to the energy release
rate for linear elastic material model
Stress intensity factors KI, KII & KIII
by mode separation

Fracture Mechanics - Overview

J-Integral (cont.)
Integration domain is defined
by rigid regions
Rigid region may be defined
Topology search (connectivity)
Geometry search (radius)
Manual
Shift vector can be defined
manually or automatically
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Fracture Mechanics - Overview

VCCT
Virtual Crack Closure Technique
A simpler but more general way for
obtaining energy release rate G
G = change in potential energy by
a change in crack length

Fracture Mechanics - Overview

VCCT crack propagation
Direct and fatigue crack propagation
types are supported
Crack grows when G is greater than
material fracture toughness Gc
Fatigue crack growth increment
calculated by Paris Law
Crack can grow by remeshing
or splitting elements
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Fracture Mechanics - Overview

Crack initiators

Modeling existing flaws

Splitting mesh
Cutting mesh along a curve
Remeshing with faceted surface

Fracture Mechanics - Overview

Delamination

Crack initiation due to service loading

Based on stress criteria
Split mesh upon failure
Insert VCCT definition
Insert cohesive interface elements
Terminate loadcase when crack is initiated

VCCT Crack Propagation

Crack propagation analysis types

Low cycle fatigue

High cycle fatigue
Direct
Both fatigue and direct

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VCCT Crack Propagation

Crack growth methods

Remeshing
Release constraints
Split elements
Cut through elements

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VCCT Crack Propagation

Crack growth direction

Maximum hoop stress

Along pure mode
Along mode I
User defined
Mode I and normal
User subroutine

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VCCT Crack Propagation

Fatigue crack propagation properties
Fixed growth increment size
Fatigue time period
Crack growth increment
Cracks grow with constant increment at the end

of fatigue time period

Useful for crack growth path

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VCCT Crack Propagation

Fatigue crack propagation properties
Growth increment calculated by Paris law
In terms of energy release rate
In terms of stress intensity
Perform every fatigue cycle
Useful for low cycle fatigue

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VCCT Crack Propagation

Fatigue crack propagation properties
Fixed with scaling
Specified growth increment is scaled
Fatigue law scaling
Exponential scaling
High cycle fatigue count

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VCCT Crack Propagation

Direct crack propagation properties

Total energy release rate (fracture toughness)

Individual modes
Power law mixed mode
Reeder mixed mode
Total using Lorenzi
Geometry based rigid region
preferable for 3D problems

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VCCT Crack Propagation

Available results

Energy release rate

Stress intensity factor
Crack growth direction
Crack local system
VCCT failure index
Accumulated crack growth
Number of fatigue cycles
Global variable

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Summary
Marc supports J-integral and VCCT for fracture mechanics
For J-integral evaluation, rigid region can be defined by

automatic topology search or geometry search

Crack initiator may be used to generate initial crack for VCCT
crack propagation
Stress-based delamination option may work alone or
generate initial crack for VCCT crack propagation
In fatigue crack propagation, a load sequence is repeated
and crack grows after each sequence
Paris law is used to calculate high cycle fatigue count
In direct crack propagation, crack grows if a given crack
growth criterion is fulfilled
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Demo
Fatigue crack propagation in a lug

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Demo (cont.)

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Demo (cont.)

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Thank You