Numerical investigation of mechanical behavior of cracked cruciform specimens in aluminum alloy 6082-T6 subjected to different biaxial loading conditions

Abstract

Analysis of cracked cruciform specimens under biaxial loading conditions is very important and closer to reality in the study of behavior of marine, naval, aeronautical and railway structures. The aim of this work is to examine the evolution of fracture parameters in a combined mixed mode of an aluminum alloy A6082-T6 cruciform specimen as a function of the biaxial loading with different ratios. To this end, the effects of main parameters, such as load ratio, crack length, crack orientation and non-proportional loading coefficient have been analyzed and discussed in order to highlight fracture toughness of the studied material. The results show that the finite element method is a useful tool for calculation of crack characteristics in the mechanics of biaxial fracture. According to the obtained results, a non-proportional evolution of the fracture parameters, namely, the SIFs KI and KII, T-stress, and the biaxiality parameter was observed. Indeed, the latter depends considerably on the crack length, the angle of crack orientation and the applied biaxial loading. Detailed concluding remarks are presented at the end of this work.