Fatigue crack closure study based on whole-field displacements

Abstract

This study is concerned with crack tip strain field fluctuations at loads below the point of crack closure in fatigue cycling. Moiré interferometry was used to investigate crack tip fields in compact tension specimens, cracked under constant stress intensity range and fixed R-ratio conditions. An elastic-plastic finite element model of simulated closure was developed to provide a theoretical cross-reference for the moiré studies. The ‘stretched zone’, which is believed to be the most significant source of closure effects, was simulated by inserting a constant thickness strip of elements into the crack before unloading from the maximum load point. Analysis of the crack tip fields in the experimental and theoretical cases was made in terms of crack face opening profiles, compliance changes and elastic stress intensity parameters. The latter were inferred through stress and displacement measurements made along circular and radial paths relative to the crack tip. Closure on the stretched zone was found to generate non-proportional loading in the crack tip field, so that the resulting stress changes were not well characterized by the asymptotic elastic equations. It is concluded firstly, that significant strain fluctuations occur below the point of closure load and that these should not be ignored in crack propagation studies. Secondly, the effective stress intensity range in fatigue cycling is not simply related to the open-crack stress intensity range and the need therefore remains for R-ratio and geometry effects to be treated as variables in crack propagation data collection programmes.