R-curve thermodynamics revisited

✍ Scribed by J. S. Short; D. W. Hoeppner

• Book ID: 104617047
• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1990
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 771 KB
• Volume: 45
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1573-2673
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00037172

✦ Synopsis

Over the last thirty years the R-curve concept has evolved from its origin in a simple energy balance argument to the point where a number of R-curve based fracture assessment methods have been developed. In spite of these developments, the thermodynamic foundations of the R-curve concept have remained relatively unexplored. In this paper the R-curve concept is re-examined through consideration of the dissipation rate for a cracked body subjected to gradually applied monotonically increasing loads. Results of the analysis are consistent with accepted interpretations of the R-curve and fracture instability. The dissipation rate analysis also leads to an analytical J versus Aa relationship which has several features in common with experimentally determined R-curves.