A physics based model to simulate brittle crack arrest in steel plates incorporating experimental and numerical evidences

Abstract

This study proposes a physics based model to simulate brittle crack arrest in steel plates, based on the local fracture stress criterion by incorporating experimental and numerical evidences of actual phenomena of brittle crack propagation/arrest behaviors. To accurately simulate actual phenomena of brittle crack propagation behavior, this study modelled the local tensile stress in the vicinity of a propagating crack tip, closure stress of unbroken shear lip, and shear lip thickness based on a series of finite element analyses and crack propagation experiments. The proposed model was applied to simulate temperature gradient crack arrest tests, and it successfully predicted the temperature dependency of brittle crack arrest toughness and crack arrest lengths.