Stress intensity factors of surface crack with undulated front

Abstract

The stress intensity factor (SIF) of a surface crack having an undulated crack front, which was defined using a cosine function based on a semi-circular crack, was evaluated by finite element analysis. The average SIF along the crack front is almost the same if the area of crack is the same. Furthermore, crack growth simulations were conducted. The undulated front crack tended to become semi-elliptical in shape during growth. Although the undulated front crack takes a relatively small SIF compared with the semi-circular crack, the growth rate was faster. This incoherence was brought about by the difference in the crack front length. Copyright © 2007 by The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers.