The Behaviour of a Process Zone at the Root of a Deep Sharp Flaw

Abstract

Many fracture problems involving flaws and cracks can be quantified by using the process zone representation of non-linear behaviour at the root of a flaw or crack. A common way of analysing such situations is to couple a knowledge of the stress distribution along the prospective process zone plane with the weight function approach. In an earlier paper, the author showed that with regard to the behaviour of a process zone at the root of a blunt flaw, i.e. blunter than a semi-circle, one can for practical purposes, use the stress distribution ahead of the actual flaw surface, and input this information into a process zone analysis for a zone emanating from the planar surface of a semi-infinite solid, this being a far simpler procedure. The present paper proceeds to the opposite extreme and considers the behaviour of a process zone at the root of a deep sharp flaw. It is shown that the behaviour can be described, to a very good degree of accuracy, by inputting the stress distribution ahead of the actual flaw root into an analysis of a process zone at the root of a semi-infinite crack in an infinite solid.