Three dimensional fracture analysis of orthotropic materials


Thesis Type: Postgraduate

Institution Of The Thesis: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Turkey

Approval Date: 2012

Student: GÖRKEM AKGÜL

Supervisor: SERKAN DAĞ

Abstract:

The main objective of this study is to examine the three-dimensional surface crack problems in orthotropic materials subjected to mechanical or thermal loading. The cracks are modeled and embedded in the orthotropic material by considering semielliptical crack front geometry. In the model special elements are embedded in the crack front region, in this way it is possible to include crack tip singular fields along the crack front. Three-dimensional finite element analyses are conducted to obtain mode I stress intensity factors. The stress intensity factor is calculated by using the displacement correlation technique. In the analysis, collapsed 20-node iso-parametric elements are utilized to simulate strain singularity around the semi-elliptical crack front. The surface crack problem is analyzed under both mechanical and thermal stresses. In the case of mechanical loading, uniform tension and fixed grip tension loading cases are applied on the model. In thermal analysis, thermal boundary conditions are defined. Comparisons of the results generated to those available in the literature verify the developed techniques.