MM/CV 312 Solid Mechanics 2 – Online Lab Report

The University of the South Pacific

MM/CV312 Solid Mechanics 2 – Online Lab Report
Lab 5 – 2D Fracture Analysis
Name: Manzal Maeen Hussain
Id: S11172678

Aim
The aim of this lab is to analyze the plate with a central crack and determine the stress intensity
factors (SIFs).

Procedure
Ansys is started with a file created and named “CentralCrack”. Then the units and the element type
and the material properties were defined. Then 5 key points were created as follows;
Key point number X Y
1 0 0
2 0.02 0
3 0.1 0
4 0.1 0.1
5 0 0.1
After these points were created, appropriate key points were used to draw the line segments to
create a shape shown below;

Figure 1
With respect to figure 1. Lines 3, 4, 5 were discretize, where lines 3, 4 had 4 elementary divisions
and line 5 had 6 with 0.2 as spacing ratio. Then the concentration key point at the crack tip was
created at key point 2 with 1st row radius as 0.0025, number of elements around circumference as
8 and also selecting the ‘skewed 1/4pt, for midside node position. Then the area was created by

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 MM/CV 312 Solid Mechanics 2 – Online Lab Report

lines and the boundary conditions and loads were applied as -100e6. Then the model was meshed
and solved.
On the postprocessing part the crack-face path was defined by using the nodes created through
meshing and was named as K1. Then the local crack-tip coordinate system was defined by using
the 3 nodes and activated. Finally, the Mode-I stress intensity Factor was determined using
KCALC.

Modeling and/or Design

Materials - The element type is selected as ‘solid’ with ‘8node 183’ from the element types, from
the option for the elements was defined as ‘plane stain’ and ‘element behavior K3’. The material
properties were selected as ‘structural-linear-elastic-isotropic’. The Young’s modulus and the
Poisson’s ratio was set as 200e9 and 0.3 respectively as shown in the figure below.

Figure 2
Loading – the loading of the plate was in pressure form due to applied stress the a for with a value
of -100e6.

Figure 3

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 MM/CV 312 Solid Mechanics 2 – Online Lab Report

Freedom case – the boundary conditions were defined structurally, by setting the displacement
symmetrically with the area.
Solution and accuracy
Some errors faced during this lab were in the post processing part. It was encountered while
defining the Crack-Face path. In the manual the nodes that needed to be selected were node 14, 27
and 26. This did not match with the place and numbering on the designed model, so alternatively
the position was matched and nodes 2, 15 and 14 were selected as shown in the figure below.

Figure 4
Similar problem was faced while defining the local crack-tip coordinate system. So, the same
solution was applied to solve the error.

Results and discussion

The stress intensity factor which is a measure of the state of stress near the crack of the plate. The
SIF for the plate through the modelling and analysis of the plate using ANSYS came to be
𝐾𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑦𝑠 = 0.26533 × 108 𝑃𝑎√𝑚 = 26.633𝑀𝑃𝑎 √𝑚, , as show in the results table (figure 5) from
the software.

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 MM/CV 312 Solid Mechanics 2 – Online Lab Report

Figure 5
The theoretical value for the SIF was calculated using the W. D Pikely equation and was calculated
as follows;
𝑎 0.02
𝜂=𝑏= = 0.1
0.2

1 1
𝐶 = (1 − 0.1𝜂2 + 0.96𝜂4 )√cos 𝜋𝜂 = (1 − 0.1(0.1)2 + 0.96(0.1)4 )√cos 𝜋(0.1) = 1.02448

𝐾𝑝𝑖𝑘𝑒𝑙𝑦 = 𝐶𝜎√𝜋𝑎 = (1.02448 )(100 × 106 )√𝜋0.02 = 25.680𝑀𝑃𝑎 √𝑚,

From this we can calculate the percentage of accuracy of the software analysis;
𝐾𝑝𝑖𝑘𝑒𝑙𝑦 − 𝐾𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑦𝑠 25.680 − 26.6533
𝜖= × 100 = × 100 = 3.7%
𝐾𝑝𝑖𝑘𝑒𝑙𝑦 25.680

Form the analysis the reformed shape was also captured to see how the crack reforms under the
tensile stress applied and it is illustrated in the figure below;

Figure 6

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 MM/CV 312 Solid Mechanics 2 – Online Lab Report

Here we can see that the crack is uplifted by a crack. The pattern in which the deformation occurs
at the crack show that the deformed length is decreased as it reaches the end of the crack. This
could be because of the elastic property of the defined material. The use of this methods can be
helpful in predicting the nature of the crack in fracture mechanics. [1] Furthermore, the stress
intensity factor describes the stress state at a crack tip, is related to the rate of crack growth, and is
used to establish failure criteria due to fracture. [2]

Conclusion
To conclude the ANSYS software was used to determine the SIF of a crack on an elastic and
isotropic material (plater). This was later compared to the analytical results found by the use of W.
D Pikely equation and the results were compared to find out the amount (percentage error) of
accuracy the model and the software predict which came to a minuscule amount of 3.7%.

References
[1] B. McGinty, "Stress Intensity Factor", Fracturemechanics.org, 2021. [Online]. Available:
https://www.fracturemechanics.org/sif.html. [Accessed: 29- May- 2021].
[2] R. Ribeiro and M. Hill, "A benchmark fracture mechanics solution for a two-dimensional
eigenstrain problem considering residual stress, the stress intensity factor, and
superposition", Engineering Fracture Mechanics, vol. 163, pp. 313-326, 2016. Available:
10.1016/j.engfracmech.2016.06.007.

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