3-D elastic-plastic fracture mechanics with ADINA

Abstract

This paper gives an overview of the techniques used for the 3-D elastic-plastic fracture mechanics work at the General Electric Corporate Research and Development Center. The ADINA program is being used for the bulk of the numerical work, but it has been necessary to make certain modifications to the program. A description of the incorporation of the deformation theory of plasticity and of a new procedure for calculating the energy release rate is given in the paper together with a short discussion of the crack-tip modeling. The application of the techniques to a 3-D compact specimen is also presented.