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12.1.IntroductiontoFracture
Structural design concepts traditionally use a strength-of-material approach for designing a component. This approach does not anticipate the elevated stress levels due to the existence of cracks. The presence of such stresses can lead to catastrophic failure of the structure. Fracture mechanics accounts for the cracks or flaws in a structure. The fracture mechanics approach to the design of structures includes flaw size as one important variable, and fracture toughness replaces strength of material as a relevant material parameter. Fracture analysis is typically carried out either using the energy criterion or the stressintensity-factor criterion. When the energy criterion is used, the energy required for a unit extension of the crack (the energy release rate) characterizes the fracture toughness. When the stress-intensity-factor criterion is used, the critical value of the amplitude of the stress and deformation fields characterizes the fracture toughness. Under certain circumstances, the two criteria are equivalent. The following additional introductory topics concerning fracture are available: Fracture Modes Fracture Mechanics Parameters Crack Growth Simulation

12.1.1.FractureModes
Depending on the failure kinematics (that is, the relative movement of the two surfaces
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of the crack), three fracture modes are distinguishable, as shown in Figure 12.1: Schematic of the Fracture Modes: ModeI ModeII ModeIII Fracture is generally characterized by a combination of fracture modes.

Figure12.1:SchematicoftheFractureModes

12.1.2.FractureMechanicsParameters
Typical fracture mechanics parameters describe either the energy-release rate or the amplitude of the stress and deformation fields ahead of the crack tip. The following parameters are widely used in fracture mechanics analysis: Stress-intensity factor Energy-release rate J-Integral
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Stress intensity factors and energy release rates are limited to linear elastic fracture mechanics. The J-Integral is applicable to both linear elastic and nonlinear elastic-plastic materials. The following additional topics are available concerning fracture mechanics parameters: The Stress-Intensity Factor J-Integral J-Integral as a Stress-Intensity Factor

12.1.2.1.TheStress-IntensityFactor

For a linear elastic material the stress and strain fields ahead of the crack tip are expressed as:

where K is the stress-intensity factor, r and are coordinates of a polar coordinate system (as shown in Figure 12.2: Schematic of a Crack Tip). These equations apply to any of the three fracture modes.

Figure12.2:SchematicofaCrackTip

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For a Mode I crack, the stress field is given as:

The stress-intensity factor and the energy-release rate are related by:

where G denotes the energy-release rate,

for plane strain, and

for

12.1.2.2.J-Integral

J-Integral is one of the most widely accepted parameters for elastic-plastic fracture mechanics. The J-Integral is defined as follows [2]:
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where W is the strain energy density, T is the kinematic energy density, represents the stresses, u is the displacement vector, and is the contour over which the integration is carried out. For a crack in a linear elastic material, the J-Integral represents the energy-release rate. Also, the amplitudes of the crack tip stress and deformation fields are characterized by the J-Integral for a crack in a nonlinear elastic material.

12.1.2.3.J-IntegralasaStress-IntensityFactor
Hutchinson [3] and Rice and Rosengren [4] independently showed that the J-Integral characterizes the crack tip field in a nonlinear elastic material. They each assumed a power law relationship between plastic strain and stress. If elastic strain is included, the relationship for uniaxial deformation is given as:

where 0 is the reference stress (the yield stress of the material), and 0 = 0/E, is a dimensionless constant, and n is the hardening component. They showed that, at a distance very close to the crack tip and well within the plastic zone, the crack tip stress and strain ahead of crack tip can be expressed as:

and
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For elastic material, n = 1 and the above equation predicts the consistent with linear elastic fracture mechanics.

singularity which is

12.1.3.CrackGrowthSimulation
Fracture/crack growth is a phenomenon in which two surfaces are separated from each other, or material is progressively damaged under external loading. ANSYS offers two techniques for simulating such failure. The Cohesive Zone Approach

12.1.3.1.TheCohesiveZoneApproach
This approach uses interface or contact elements to allow the separation of the surfaces and the cohesive material model to describe the separation behavior of the surfaces. The approach applies to both the simulation of fracture in a homogeneous material as well as interfacial delamination along the interface between two materials. For more information, see Interface Delamination and Failure Simulation .

Gurson's model is a plasticity model (TB,GURSON) used to simulate ductile metal damage. The model is a micromechanics-based ductile damage model incorporating the
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void volume fraction into plasticity constitutive equation to represent the ductile damage process of void grow, void nucleation, and void coalescence. For more information, see Gurson's Model in the Theory Reference for the Mechanical APDL and Mechanical Applications and TB,GURSON command documentation.
Release 12.0 - 2009 SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. Draft Published: 2009-02-24

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