Experimental Stress Analysis (ME412)

Class Notes

by

Poornesh Kumar K, PhD

Dept of Mechanical Engineering
Assistant Professor
NITK
 Fracture energy
The total amount of mechanical energy that is supplied to a material volume per unit of
time (U’e) must be transferred into internal energy ( U’i), surface energy (U’a), dissipated
energy ( U’d) and kinetic energy (U’k).

The internal energy is the elastically stored energy. The surface energy changes, when new
free surface is generated, e.g. when a crack propagates. The kinetic energy is the result of
material velocity. The dissipation may have various characteristics, but is mostly due to
friction and plastic deformation. It results in temperature changes.

Instead of taking time derivatives (˙) to indicate

changes, we can also use another state
variable, e.g. the crack surface area A.
Assuming the crack to be through the thickness
of a plate, whose thickness B is uniform and
constant, we can also use the crack length a as
a state variable.
 Griffith’s energy balance

It is now assumed that the available external and internal energy is transferred into surface
energy. Dissipation and kinetic energy are neglected. This results in the so-called Griffith
energy balance.

We know
 Griffith stress
consider a crack of length 2a in an ”infinite” plate with uniform thickness B [m]. The
crack is loaded in mode I by a nominal stress σ [Nm−2]

Because the edges with the applied stress are at a far distance from the crack, their
displacement will be very small when the crack length changes slightly. Therefore it is
assumed that dUe = 0 during crack propagation.

It is further assumed that the elastic energy in

the elliptical area is released, when the crack
with length a is introduced.

According to Griffith’s energy balance,

the applied stress σ and the crack length a are
related. From this relation we can calculate
the Griffith stress σgr and also the critical crack
length ac.
Because only one stress is included in the analysis, the above relations apply to a uni-
axial state, which can be assumed to exist in a thin plate. For a thick plate the
contraction has to be included and the Griffith stress becomes a function of Poisson’s
ratio.
Stress Intensity Factors
 Stress Fields

Consider a cylindrical coordinate system centered at the edge or tip of a crack whereby the location of any
material point in the cracked body can be identified with its radial distance r from the crack tip and anglular
position θ, measured in the counterclockwise sense about the y-axis that completes the right-handed rectangular
coordinate system, with respect to the extension of the crack plane. In this system, the crack faces are at θ = + or
– pi and θ = 0 is the plane along which the crack extends
Relation between G − K
Relation between G − K
Relation between G − K (multimode loading)
A 1mmx15mmx100mm steel strap has a 3-mm long central crack is loaded to failure.
Assume that the steel is brittle and has E =207,000 MPa, σys=1500 MPa, and
KIC =70 MPa (m)1/2. Determine the critical stress (σc ) and the critical strain energy release
rate.

Assume geometry factor as 1.07

Ans 1020 Mpa

23.7 kN/m2
What does ∂U/∂a = 0 mean?