Volume free strain energy density method for applications to blunt V-notches

Abstract

This work investigates the application of the strain energy density method to rounded V-notches under mode I loading conditions and to components without stress concentrators through finite element models that do not involve the construction of the control volume in the preprocessing phase of the finite element analysis. The application of the strain energy density method to components without stress concentrators like sharp V-notches requires, according to the conventional procedure of the method, two different numerical simulations; the first simulation defines the point of maximum of the first principal stress along the notch fillet; the second simulation calculates the strain energy density value within the control volume built using the position of the first principal stress maximum evaluated in the first simulation. Several numerical analyses, with changing the notch angle, the notch radius, the control volume radius and the mesh refinement, were carried out to evaluate the error in calculating the strain energy density value through the new procedure presented in the present work whose main advantages are to simplify the method and to decrease the calculation time that, dealing with complex geometries, is reduced by 50% requiring only one simulation instead of the two requested by the conventional procedure