11/8/00

ME111
Instructor: Peter Pinsky
Class #16 Problem 3
November 1, 2000 A center-cracked plate of AISI 1144 steel ( K C = 115 MPa m )
has dimensions b = 40 mm, t = 15 mm and h = 20 mm. For a factor
of safety of three against crack growth, what is the maximum
Today’s Topics
permissible load on the plate if the crack half-length a is: (a) 10 mm,
and (b) 24 mm?
• Introduction to linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM). thicknesst

• State of stress near a crack tip.

• The stress intensity factor and fracture toughness s 2a 2b s

• Factor of safety for fracture

h h

Reading Assignment

Juvinall 6.1 – 6.4

Problem 4
Problem Set #6 Due in class 11/8/00. A rectangular beam made of ABS plastic ( K C = 3 MPa m )
has dimensions b = 20 mm deep and t = 10 mm thick. Loads
on the beam cause a bending moment of 10 N.m. What is the
Juvinall 6.2, 6.7 largest through thickness edge crack that can be permitted if a
factor of safety of 2.5 against fracture is required?
Problems continued on next pages

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Problem 6
Problem 5
Two plates of A533B-1 steel are placed together and then welded
A 50 mm diameter shaft has a circumferential surface crack as
from one side, with the weld penetrating halfway, as shown below.
shown below, with crack depth a = 5 mm. The shaft is made of
A uniform tension stress is applied during service. Determine the
18-Ni maraging steel ( K C = 123 MPa m ).
strength of this joint, as a percentage of its strength if the joint were
solid, as limited by (i) fracture, taking into account plasticity at the
(a) If the shaft is loaded with a bending moment of 1.5 kN.m, what
crack tip, and (ii) fully plastic yielding, for:
is the factor of safety against crack propagation?
(b) If an axial tensile load of 120 kN is combined with the above
(a) A service temperature of -750C when the properties are:
bending moment, what is the factor of safety now?
S y = 550 MPa, KC = 55 MPa m
Note: The stress intensity factor for a case of “combined” loading
is found by simply summing the stress intensity factors found (b) A service temperature of 2000C when the properties are:
by considering each loading case separately. This S y = 400 MPa, K C = 200 MPa m
“superposition” works because we are combining linear
elastic solutions. (c) Comment on the suitability of this steel for use at these temperatures.
Notes:
M 1. Fracture toughness generally increases with temperature while
P yield strength diminishes.
2. Assume the weld metal has the same properties as the plates.

a = 5 mm

5 cm
50 mm

weld

10 cm

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16.1 What is Fracture Mechanics?

• Structures will frequently have sizeable existing cracks which might or

might not grow, depending on the load level.

• To predict failure by crack growth we need a “crack meter,” which is

provided by fracture mechanics

• When a material has an EXISTING crack, flaw, inclusion or defect of

unknown small radius, the stress concentration factor approaches Infinite stresses are predicted by
infinity, making it practically useless for predicting stress. Elasticity theory

s max = Kts nom Material will yield and stress remain finite

 a
s max = s  1 + 2  = 3s
Kt  a
 a As Kt = 3
s max = s  1 + 2 
 b b/a → 0
a Then
Kt = 1 + 2 Drill hole at crack tip – reduces stress concentration
b s max → ∞
and arrests crack growth (e.g. skin of airplane wing)

b/ a
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16.3 Stress State Near the Crack Tip

• Linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) analyzes the gross
elastic changes in a component that occur as a sharp crack grows
and compares this to the energy required to produce new fracture
surfaces. y

• Using this approach, it is possible to calculate the average stress r

which will cause growth of an existing crack. Mode I
q
x in-plane tension

16.2 Fracture Conditions

There exist three possible fracture modes, as shown below:

• For Mode I fracture, the stress components at the crack tip are:

q q 3q
cos 1 − sin sin
K 
sx = + O( r1 / 2 )
2p r 2 2 2 

q q 3q
cos 1 + sin sin
K 
sx = + O( r1 / 2 ) K = bs p a
2p r 2 2 2 

K q q 3q
Mode I Mode II Mode III t xy = sin cos cos + O(r1 / 2 )
out-of-plane shear 2p r 2 2 2
in-plane tension in-plane shear

• A crack generates its own stress field, which differs from any other
• Mode I is most important (will not consider the others here)
crack tip stress field only by the scaling factor K , which we call
the stress intensity factor.

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16.4 State of Stress Near a Crack Tip • The units of the stress intensity factor K are, for example,

• Consider a crack in a plate as shown: MPa m , or psi in , etc.

• Values of b = K / K0 have been determined from the theory of

elasticity for many cases of practical importance and some
representative cases are plotted in the next few pages (taken
s 2a 2b s from “Mechanical Engineering Design,” by Shigley and Mischke).

16.5 Fracture Toughness

• The stress intensity factor K describes the state of stress near a

h h crack tip.

• It is found experimentally that existing cracks will propagate (I.e. grow)

• If when the stress intensity factor K reaches a critical value called the
h b
>> 1, >> 1 fracture toughness.
b a • The fracture toughness K C
elastic analysis shows that the conditions for crack growth are is a material property that
• The fracture toughness can be measured and tabulated
controlled by the magnitude of the elastic stress stress intensity
is denoted K C Plane strain conditions are
factor K 0
the most conservative
K0 = s p a
• We have failure by fracture when K grows toK = KC
• If the plate has finite dimensions relative to the crack length a,
then the value of K 0 must be modified: K < KC Crack will not propagate
K ≥ KC Crack will propagate
K = bK 0 = bs p a
where b depends on the geometry of the component and crack.
16.6 Factor of Safety in Fracture

K 0 = s p a is the base value of the stress intensity factor KC

N=
K = b K0 is the true stress intensity factor K

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16.7 Summary of LEFM 16.8 Values of K C for Some Metals

• Elastic analysis, based on the assumption of elastic behavior at the

crack tip (I.e. no large-scale plastic deformations occur), shows that
the conditions for crack propagation are controlled by the magnitude Material K C , MPa m S y , MPa
of the elastic stress intensity factor K

Aluminum
K = bK 0 = bs p a
2024 26 455
where b depends on the geometry of the component and crack.
7075 24 495

7176 33 490

• It has been found experimentally that a pre-existing crack will

Titanium
propagate when the stress intensity factor reaches a critical v alue
called the fracture toughness KC
Ti-6AL -4V 115 910

K < KC Crack will not propagate

Ti-6AL -4V 55 1035
K ≥ KC Crack will propagate
Steel

4340 99 860

• The factor of safety for a given stress intensity factor is: 4340 60 1515

KC
N= 52100 14 2070
K

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Example 16.1 Example 16.2

A plate of width 1.4 m and length 2.8 m is required to support a tensile
A steel ship deck is 30 mm thick, 12 m wide and 20 m long and has
load of 4 MN (in the long direction). Inspection procedures are capable
a fracture toughness of KC = 28.3 MPa.m1/2. If a 65 mm long central
of detecting through-thickness edge cracks larger than 2.7 mm. The two
transverse crack is discovered, calculate the nominal tensile stress
titanium alloys in the table on page are being considered for this
that will cause catastrophic failure. Compare the stress found to the
application. For a factor of safety of N = 1.3 against yielding and fracture,
yield strength of Sy = 240 MPa.
which one of the two alloys will give the lightest weight solution?

• We start by determining thickness based on yielding:

• First compute the stress intensity factor:
Sy Sy PN
32.5 10 N= = ⇒ t=
a/b = = 0.005, h / b = = 1.67 s P / wt wS y
6000 6
For the weaker alloy (call it alloy A)
K PN ( 4 × 106 )(1 .3) S y 910
From, Fig. 5-19, we find b = ≈ 1 (essentially an infinite plate) t= = = 4 .08 mm s = = = 700 MPa
K0 wS y (1,400)(910) N 1 .3

K = b s p a = (1.0)(s )( p ( 32.5 × 10− 3 ) ) For the stronger alloy (call it alloy B)

PN ( 4 × 106 )(1 .3) S y 1035
For failure we have: t= = = 3.59 mm s = = = 796 MPa
wS y (1,400)(1035) N 1 .3
K = KC ⇒ (1 .0 )(s )( p ( 32.5 × 10− 3 ) ) = 28.3
• We now find the thickness to prevent crack growth (see Fig. 5-22):

28.3 h 2 .8 / 2 a 2.7 K
s = = 88.6 MPa = = 1, = = 0.00193 ⇒ b = = 1 .1
p ( 32.5 × 10− 3 ) b 1 .4 b 1,400 K0

K = b K0 = bs p a = (1.1)s p ( 2.7 × 10− 3 ) = 0 .1013s

The uniaxial stress that will cause yielding is given by S y = 240 MPa
KC
We also have, N = so that,
We note that K
Sy 240
= = 2.71 (fracture occurs well before yielding) KC KC
s 88.6 K = 0 .1013s = ⇒ s =
N 0. 1013 N

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For the weaker alloy (alloy A) Example 16.3

KC 115 A long rectangular plate has a width of 100 mm, thickness of 5 mm

s = = = 873 .3 MPa
0. 1013 N (0 .1013 )( 1. 3) and an axial load of 50 kN. If the plate is made of aluminum 2014- T651,
( K C = 24 MPa m ) what is the critical crack length for failure (N = 1)?
P 4 × 106
t= = = 3.27 mm
ws (1,400)( 873.3) 50 kN
For the stronger alloy (alloy B)
At the critical crack length,
KC 55 K C = K = bs p a
s = = = 417 . 6 MPa
0. 1013 N ( 0. 1013 )( 1. 3) 2a
But b depends on a / b , making a
P 4 × 106 direct calculation of a impossible.
t= = = 6.84 mm
ws (1,400)(417.6)
2b = 100 mm  50, 000 
24 = b  pa
 (100 )( 5) 
Summary:
or
Weak alloy (A):
b a = 0. 135
b = K / KC
Yielding t = 4. 08 mm s = 700 MPa meters!
Fracture t = 3.27 mm s = 873.3 MPa Using Fig. 5-21:

Fracture toughness a = 0 .04 , a / b = 0. 8, b = 1 .85, b a = 0 .37

Strong alloy (B):
limits design
Yielding t = 3.59 mm s = 796 MPa a = 0 .01, a / b = 0 .2, b = 1. 02, b a = 0. 102
Fracture t = 6. 84 mm s = 418 MPa
M
a = 0 .015, a / b = 0.3, b = 1.06, b a = 0.13
Best design solution: use weak alloy (A) with t = 4 .08 mm
governed by yielding a /b Critical crack length a = 15 mm.

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16.9 Effects of Small Scale Yielding at the Crack Tip

Example 16.4

For the proceeding problem, what is the factor of safety against fracture
for a crack of length10 mm which is: • Stress are predicted to become infinite near the crack tip according to
LEFM.
(a) Centered in the plate
(b) On the edge of the plate
• For ductile materials, stresses are limited by local yielding in the
(a) Determine the stress intensity factor from Fig. 5-21: vicinity of the crack tip.

a = 5 mm , a / b = 0 .1, b = 1. 02
 50,000 
K = bs p a = (1.02)   0.01p = 18.1 MPa m s stress based on elasticity
 (100)( 5) 
calculate the factor of safety: 2 ry
K 24
N= C = = 1.33
K 18.1 yielded , redistribu ted stress

ry
(b) Determine the stress intensity factor from Fig. 5-22:

a = 10 mm , a / b = 0. 1, b = 1 .02

Which is the same as (a)

crack tip x
N = 1.33
plastic zone

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• To account for this, we think of the plastic zone as providing a

virtual crack tip extension to a new effective crack size:
• The size of the plastic zone can be investigated as follows:
2
1  K 
aeff = a + 2ry = a+ 
p  S y 

• It may be shown that

• We observe that:
2
1  K 
ry =  K = bs pa eff
2p  S y 


the use of which now requires an iterative solution because b

depends on aeff .
• Stress redistribution accompanies plastic yielding and causes
the plastic zone to to extend approximately
2 Concluding Remarks:
1  K 
2 ry =
p  S y  • In many problems, the plastic zone is very small and can be
neglected in determining the stress intensity factor.
ahead of the real crack tip to satisfy equilibrium conditions
(see figure on previous page). • However, when the stress intensity factor approaches the fracture
toughness value, the plastic zone correction becomes
significant and should be investigated.

• If the plastic zone size becomes “large” relative to the crack size
the accuracy of LEFM becomes questionable, and an elastic-plastic
fracture mechanics approach should be considered.

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Example 16.5 Example 16.6

A long rectangular plate has a width of 100 mm, thickness of 5 mm The round bar of aluminum 2024- T851 has a sharp notch around its
and an axial load of 50 kN. If the plate is made of titanium Ti -6AL-4V, circumference. Assume:
( S y = 910 MPa , K C = 115 MPa m ) what is the factor of safety
against crack growth for a crack of length a = 20 mm. S y = 455 MPa, KC = 26.4 MPa m

We wish to compute the stress Find:

175 kN
intensity factor so that we can evaluate:
(a) The size of the plastic zone at the crack tip.
K (b) The fracture load.
N = C , K = bs p aeff
K P
2a
Now

175,000
K i+ 1 = b (a eff ) p aeff
2b = 100 mm (100)(5) a = 2 mm
2
1  K i 
aeff =a+ 
p  S y 
30 mm

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Example 16.7

For the steel beam shown, a crack of length a = 0.25 in will be

detectable. Find the beam thickness to provide a factor of safety
N = 2, (a) ignoring the plastic zone at the crack tip, (b) taking the
plastic zone into account. Take:

S y = 220 kpsi , KC = 55 kpsi in

5 lb 5 lb

1.5 in

6 in 15 in 6 in

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