Numerical simulation of the initiation and growth of new fatigue cracks following crack intersections

• Published in: International journal of fatigue Vol. 17; no. 6; pp. 437 - 446
• Main Authors: Blackburn, W.S., Hall, W.S., Rooke, D.P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 1995; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Exact sciences and technology; Fracture mechanics (crack, fatigue, damage...); Fracture mechanics, fatigue and cracks; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Physics; Solid mechanics; Structural and continuum mechanics; Stress concentration; Crack formation; Stress intensity factors; Numerical methods; Fatigue; Holes; Boundary element method; Plates; Crack propagation
• ISSN: 0142-1123; 1879-3452
• DOI: 10.1016/0142-1123(95)00022-L

The dual boundary element method has previously been used to analyse cracks in linear elastic materials in two dimensions and to evaluate the stress intensity factors by contour integrals around the crack tips. In this paper the method is extended to allow new cracks to initiate in response to the sudden increase in the loading coming from stress concentrations when existing cracks intersect with boundaries or with each other. The sensitivity and stability of the extended procedures are examined by their application to the investigation of the growth of cracks within a rectangular plate containing internal holes. The geometries studied consist of a single primary crack and various arrangements of one to five symmetrically placed circular holes; the plate is loaded by a uniform normal traction on its ends. The first test, on a single hole intersected by a primary crack, gives good agreement with previous results, while simulations with more holes show different regimes of crack initiation and growth in which various numbers of cracks initiate, in some cases linking the holes together.