On combination of the equivalent material concept and J-integral criterion for ductile failure prediction of U-notches subjected to tension

Abstract

The aim of the present research is to check the capability of the equivalent material concept (EMC) combined with the J-integral failure criterion, called EMC-J criterion, in predicting the load-carrying capacity (LCC) of U-notched ductile aluminium plates subjected to tension by considering the 2 moderate and large-scale yielding regimes. For this purpose, first, a set of experimental results on LCC of 2 groups of thin U-notched rectangular plates made of Al 7075-T6 and Al 6061-T6 are gathered from the recent literature. Then, because the Al 7075-T6 and Al 6061-T6 plates have ductile behaviour, EMC is employed to avoid performing elastic-plastic failure analysis for LCC predictions. Up to now, different failure models in the context of the linear-elastic notch fracture mechanics have been successfully utilized in combination with EMC for ductile failure prediction of notched members. However, this is the first time in this research that J-integral, as a well-known brittle failure criterion, is linked to EMC for predicting LCC of the U-notched rectangular aluminium plates. Finally, it is shown that EMC-J criterion can predict well the experimental results of tensile LCC.