ME 437/637: Fracture

Mechanics
Course Instructor: Indrasen Singh
 Course Syllabus
• Introduction and overview
• Energy concepts in fracture mechanics: atomistic view of fracture, Griffith
energy balance, Irwin-Orowan extension, Energy release rate G and R
curve.
• Linear elastic fracture mechanics: stress and displacement fields near crack
tip for mode-I, II and III fracture, stress intensity factor K, relation between
G and K, small scale yielding conditions, Irwin’s plastic zone correction,
Dugdale model, Fracture toughness Kc,
• Westergaard method, Principle of superposition.
• Non-Linear fracture mechanics; J Integral, Plastic crack tip (HRR) fields,
Ductile fracture criterion, J Integral Testing, J controlled crack growth and
stability, Engineering approach to Plastic Fracture.
• Fatigue Failure
 References
1. T. L. Anderson, Fracture Mechanics – Fundamentals & Applications,
CRC press, 3rd Ed., 2005, ISBN-10: 0849316561.
2. M. F. Kanninen and C.H.Popelar, Advanced Fracture Mechanics,
Oxford press, 1985, ISBN-10: 0195035321
3. D. Broek, Elementary Engineering Fracture Mechanics, Martinus
Nijhoff publishers, 1982, ISBN-13:- 978-90-247-2580-9
4. Kare Hellan, Introduction to Fracture Mechanics, McGraw Hill,
1984, ISBN-10: 0070280487
 Evaluation
• Mid Term: 35
• End Sem: 40
• Project: 15
• Assignment: 10
Chapter 1: Introduction
 1.1 Design against failure

• Failure of a structural component may occur in different ways.

Example : Consider thin cantilever beam.
 1.1 Design against failure

Note:
• In above design methods, we have not considered presence of flaws
(notches) and their growth.
• Every component has flaws (due to manufacturing defects).
 1.1 Design against failure
Fracture mechanics:
• Based on the implicit assumption that there exists a crack in work component.
• These cracks may be man made (such as a notch, hole, slot, a re-entrant corner
e.t.c) or may exist due to manufacturing defects like slag inclusion, cracks in
weldment or heat affected zones due to uneven heating and presence of foreign
particles.
• A dangerous crack may nucleate and grow during the service of the component
(fatigue generated cracks, nucleation of notches due to environmental
dissolution).
• Fracture mechanics deals with the question- is a known crack likely to grow
under a certain loading conditions?
• Fracture mechanics can be applied to crack growth under fatigue loading.
 1.1 Design against failure
Fracture mechanics based design:
Motivation for studying fracture mechanics

Schenectady after breaking in two.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Schenectady
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Comet
 Great Molasses Flood (15th Jan 1919 in the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts)
A large storage tank filled with 2.3 million US gal (8,700 m3) of molasses burst, and the resultant
wave of molasses rushed through the streets at an estimated 35 mph (56 km/h), killing 21 and
injuring 150

The wreckage of the collapsed tank is visible in background, Damage to the Boston Elevated Railway caused by the burst
center, next to the light-colored warehouse tank and resulting flood
 Fracture Mechanics

Applied Mechanics Material Science

• Crack tip fields • Micro-mechanics of

• Fracture characterizing fracture.
parameters. • Develop fracture and
• Role of reinforcements, fatigue resistant
system parameters. materials.
• Testing methodologies.
• Design procedures.
 • A three-step process leads to the
catastrophic fracture in brittle
metallic glasses
I. simultaneous and unstable
cavitation in weak regions ahead of
a crack tip when a critical level of
hydrostatic stress is attained
II. linking of cavities with the crack tip
or other cavities by curved and
highly confined SBs
III. rapid failure by dynamic crack
propagation in the curved bands.

Continuum simulations of crack initiation in brittle metallic glass

Singh et al., Physical review letter 117, 044302 (2016)