Post-yield fracture mechanics analysis of the combined thermal and mechanical loading of a centre-cracked plate

✍ Scribed by T. K. Hellen; W. S. Blackburn

• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1986
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 812 KB
• Volume: 32
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1573-2673
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00018352

✦ Synopsis

The elastic-plastic stress analysis of a centre-cracked plate subjected to two types of loading is considered using the non-linear BERSAFE finite element system. The loading includes both uniaxial tension and a quadratic thermal gradient across the plate, both of which independently would tend to open the crack. In the present work the combined effect of these two load forms is investigated by applying one after the other using the restart facility. In the case of the thermal load followed by the tensile load, several restarts of the tensile part were made at successively lower thermal loads. Also, both combinations of load application were applied to a plate initially uncracked, then the crack was opened from the loaded state by using a nodal load release technique. In all cases, path independent contour integrals were calculated to assess the fracture conditions at the crack tip under the above styles of loading, particularly with a view to supplying results which can be compared to proposed CEGB fracture procedures.