ELASTIC PLASTIC FRACTURE MECHANICS: EPFM

LEFM Ceases to be valid when significant plastic deformation around the

cracktip precedes FRACTURE.
Several researchers developed analyses to correct for yielding at the Crack tip,
including Irwin,Dugdale,Barenblatt and wells.
Wells (1961), at the British welding Research Association proposed the
displacements of the crack faces at the cracktip as an alternative parameter
( called CTOD, ) when significant plastic deformation at the cracktip precedes
FRACTURE.
In 1968, Rice developed another parameter (called J.Integral) to characterize
the crack-tip field (stress,strain,displacement) when significant plastic
deformation precedes FRACTURE. By idealizing plastic deformation as
nonlinear elastic , Rice was able to generalize the Energy Release Rate approach
to account for the plastic deformation of the material around the cracktip. He
showed that this Nonlinear Elastic Energy Release Rate can be expressed as a
line integral ; which he called the J-Integral ; evaluated along an arbitrary
contour around the cracktip.
Hutchinson (1968), Rice & Rosenberg (1968) related the J-Integral to cracktip
stress fields in nonlinear materials. These analyses showed that J can be viewed
as a Nonlinear Elastic Stress Intensity Factor.
ELASTIC PLASTIC FRACTURE MECHANICS: EPFM
ELASTIC PLASTIC FRACTURE MECHANICS: EPFM
In the early 1970s because of legitamate concerns for safety, as well as
political and public relations considerations, the nuclear power industry in the
United States, endeavored to apply state-of the art technology, including
Fracture mechanics, to the design, construction, and Operation of nuclear power
plants. The difficulty in the application of Fracture Mechanics in this instance
was that most nuclear pressure vessel and piping steels were too tough to be
characterized with LEFM parameters demanding very large size test specimens.
In 1971 , Begley and landes ; research engineers at westing house, came
across Rices article, and decided,despite skepticism from their coworkers, to
characterize fracture toughness of nuclear pressure vessel and piping steels with
J-integral as the parameter. Their experiments were very fruitful and led to the
issue of a standard procedure for J testing of metals ten years later(1981).
ELASTIC PLASTIC FRACTURE MECHANICS: EPFM
E 813-81 : Standard Test-Method for J
IC
; a measure of Fracture Toughness,
American Society of testing of materials,Philadelphia,1981.
Fracture Toughness characterization of materials is only one aspect of Fracture
Mechanics. In order to apply FM concepts to design one must have a
mathematical relationship between toughness, stress and flawsize. These
relationships are well established in LEFM. Similar relations are needed in EPFM
also.
A Damage Tolerance Analysis based on the J-integral was provided by Shih
and Hutchinson(1976).
ELASTIC PLASTIC FRACTURE MECHANICS: EPFM
Electric power Research Institute (EPRI) published a Fracture Design
Handbook in 1981.
In the United kingdom,Wells CTOD parameter was applied extensively to
Fracture Design Analysis of welded structures.Burdekin and Dawes(1971)
developed the CTOD design curve, a semi empirical fracture mechanics
methodology for welded steel structures.
Shih (1981) derived a relationship between the J-integral and CTOD,
implying that both parameters are equally valid for characterizing fracture.
The J-integral based material testing and structural design approaches
developed in the U.S. and the CTOD based methodology of U.K. have begun to
merge in recent years. The positive aspects of each approach combined to yield
improved analyses. Both parameters are currently applied throughout the world
to a range of materials.
Dynamic and Time-Dependent Fracture
There are cases where LEFM, and EPFM, which assume quasistatic,rate-
independent material behavior, are inadequate;
- In dynamic fracture problems, time is an important variable. At high
loading rates, for example, inertia effects, rate dependent material
behavior, and reflected stress-waves become significant.
- Metals and Ceramics also exhibit rate-dependent deformation (creep)
at high temperatures.
- The mechanical behavior of polymers is highly sensitive to strain
rate,particularly above the glass transition temperature.
Dynamic and Time-Dependent Fracture
Early fracture mechanics researchers considered dynamic effects, but only
for the special case of linear elastic material behavior (Elasto Dynamic
Fracture).
More Recently, Fracture mechanics has been extended to include time-
dependent material behavior such as VISCO PLASTICITY and VISCO
ELASTICITY. Most of these new approaches are based on general state of the
J-Integral.