Analytical solution for orthotropic composite plate containing a mode I crack along principle axis

Analytical stress analyses are presented for orthotropic composite materials containing a through crack under uniaxial normal loads (mode I). A harmonic differential equation has been established for the orthotropic plates with axes normal to the three orthogonal planes of material symmetry by introducing new complex variables. The complex theory was employed to find stress functions to satisfy the equilibrium equation, compatibility equation and boundary condition at infinite and crack surfaces. An analytical solution was examined in the case of isotropic materials. It is demonstrated that the analytical solution obtained is correct for the orthotropic composite plates.     

On the stress state in rectilinear anisotropic thick plates with blunt cracks

In this paper the analytical solution for the stress fields in the close neighbourhoods of blunt cracks in thick anisotropic plates is provided. As a first step the equations of the three-dimensional theory of elasticity are successfully reduced to two un-coupled equations in the two-dimensional space. Later on, the 3D stress field solution for anisotropic plates with blunt cracks is presented and its degree of accuracy discussed comparing theoretical results and numerical data from 3D FE analyses. Eventually, relevant expressions for the Generalised Stress Intensity Factors for blunt cracks in orthotropic plates under mode I, II and III are provided.     

On higher order parameters in cracked composite plates under far‐field pure shear

This paper presents the analytical solution of the crack tip fields as well as the crack parameters in an infinitely large composite plate with a central crack subjected to pure shear loading. To this end, the complex variable method is employed to formulate an asymptotic solution for the crack tip fields in an anisotropic plane. Using a stress‐based definition of the crack tip modes of loading, only the mode II crack parameters are found to be non‐zero under pure shear load. Special focus is given to the determination of the higher order parameters of the crack tip asymptotic field, particularly the first non‐singular term, ie, the T‐stress. Unlike the isotropic materials, in which the T‐stress is zero under pure shear, it is found that the T‐stress is non‐zero for the case of anisotropic materials, being the only material‐dependent crack tip stress parameter. The veracity of our exact crack tip fields is assessed and verified through a comparison made with respect to the finite element (FE) solution. Finally, we demonstrate the significance of the T‐stress on stresses near the crack tip in composite plates under pure shear loads.     

Application of an orthotropy rescaling method to edge cracks and kinked cracks in orthotropic two-dimensional solids

Oblique edge cracks and kinked cracks in orthotropic materials with inclined principal material directions under inplane loadings are investigated. The Stroh formalism is modified by introducing new complex functions, which recovers a classical solution for a degenerate orthotropic material with multiple characteristic roots. An orthotropy rescaling technique is presented based on the modified Stroh formalism. Stress intensity factors for edge cracks as well as kinked cracks are obtained in terms of solutions for a material with cubic symmetry by applying the orthotropy rescaling method. Explicit expressions of the stress intensity factors for a degenerate orthotropic material are obtained in terms of solutions for an isotropic material. The effects of orthotropic parameter, material orientation, and crack angle on the stress intensity factors for the degenerate orthotropic material are discussed. The stress intensity factors for cubic symmetry materials are calculated from finite element analyses, which can be used to evaluate the stress intensity factors for orthotropic materials. The energy release rate for the kinked crack in an orthotropic material is also obtained.     

Mode II Macrocrack Initiation in Orthotropic Composite Viscoelastic Plate

Safe loads and initiation time for a straight macrocrack in viscoelastic orthotropic material that is intended to model a fiber composite plate under shear loads is investigated. The composite material is modeled by viscoelastic orthotropic medium. Determination of expression for crack shear displacement as function of time is based on the corresponding elastic solution and the method of operator continued fractions. Initiation time is obtained as a solution of integral equation for the incubation period. Numerical calculations are given for mode II macrocrack initiation.     

Determination of calibration constants for the hole-drilling residual stress measurement technique applied to orthotropic composites—Part I: Theoretical considerations

The hole-drilling technique for the measurement of residual stresses using electrical resistance strain gages has been widely used for isotropic materials and has been adopted by the ASTM as a standard method. A few attempts have been made to extend the technique to orthotropic composite materials. For thin isotropic plates, with a hole drilled through the thickness, the idealized hole-drilling calibration constants are obtained by making use of the well known Kirsch's solution. In this paper, an analogous attempt is made to theoretically determine the three idealized hole-drilling calibration constants for thin orthotropic materials by employing Savin's complex stress function approach. In Part II (to appear in the next issue), test results for a graphite-polyimide composite, with a very high degree of orthotropy, are given and compared with the theoretical results.     

Mode II fracture testing method for highly orthotropic materials like wood

In this paper a mode II fracture testing method has been developed for wood from analytical, experimental and numerical investigations. Analytical results obtained by other researchers showed that the specimen geometry and loading type used for the proposed mode II testing method results in only mode II stress intensity and no mode I stress intensity at the crack tip. Experiments have been carried out to determine mode II fracture toughness K _IIC and fracture energy G _IIF from the test data collected from both spruce (pice abies) and poplar (populus nigra) specimens. It was found that there existed a very good relation between fracture toughness K_IIC and fracture energy G _IIF when the influence of orthotropic stiffness E _II ^* in mode II was taken into account. It verified that for this mode II testing method the formula of LEFM can be employed for calculating mode II fracture toughness even for highly orthotropic materials like wood. In the numerical studies for the tested spruce specimen, the crack propagation process, stress and strain fields in front of crack tips and the stress distributions along the ligament have been investigated in detail. It can be seen that the simulated crack propagating process along the ligament is a typical shear cracking pattern and the development of cracks along the ligament is due to shear stress concentrations at the crack tips of the specimen. It has been shown that this mode II fracture testing method is suitable for measuring mode II fracture toughness K _IIC for highly orthotropic materials like wood.     

Stress analysis of perforated composite plates

Thin-walled plates and panels of various constructions find wide use as primary structural elements in simple and complex configuration. In aerospace structures, panels with variously shaped cutout are often used. The understanding of the effects of cutout on the load bearing capacity and stress concentration of such plates is very important in designing of complex structures. An analytical investigation is used to study the stress analysis of plates with different central cutout. Particular emphasis is placed on flat square plates subjected to a uni-axial tension load. The results based on analytical solution are compared with the results obtained using finite element methods. The main objective of this study is to demonstrate the accuracy and simplicity of presented analytical solution for stress analysis of composite plates with central cutout. The effect of cutout geometry (circular, square, or special cutouts), material properties (isotropic and orthotropic), fiber angles, and cutout curvature are considered. The results presented herein, indicated that the presented method can be used to determine accurately the stresses and stress concentration in composite plates with special shape cutouts.     

Mode II weight functions for isotropic and orthotropic double cantilever beams

Approximate weight functions are derived and validated numerically for isotropic and orthotropic double cantilever beams loaded in mode II. They define the stress intensity factor at the crack tip due to a pair of unit point forces acting tangentially to the crack surfaces and have been deduced using asymptotic matching through finite elements and an orthotropy rescaling technique. Along with the related mode I weight functions, which are recalled in the paper, the functions can be used to formulate mixed mode problems in beams and plates as integral equations so avoiding the limitations imposed on accuracy by approximations based on structural theories. An accurate method such as the weight function method becomes necessary when dealing with short cracks, crack initiation and large scale bridging delamination problems with crack wake mechanisms acting over several scales. The accuracy of modes I and II solutions based on beam theory approximations is shown to be strongly influenced by the length of Dugdale type cohesive regions, with short lengths giving rise to large errors in the fracture parameters. Stress intensity factors obtained using the proposed functions for special problems agree with solutions from the literature.     

裂纹稳态扩展下正交异性材料的动应力强度因子K_(Ⅲ)解答

研究了无限大正交异性材料中半无限长Ⅲ型裂纹的动态扩展问题。裂纹尖端附近的应力和位移被表达为解析复函数的形式,而复函数可以表达为幂级数的形式,幂级数的系数由研究问题的边界条件来确定。这样就给出了裂纹尖端附近的应力分量和位移分量的简单近似表达式,由推导出的动应力分量和动位移分量可以退化为其在各向同性材料静态断裂问题中的情况。最后,裂纹扩展特性由裂纹几何参数和裂纹扩展速度来反映出来,相同的几何参数情况下,裂纹扩展愈快,裂纹尖端附近的最大应力分量和最大位移分量愈大。     

Stress singularities for crack normal to and terminating at bimaterial interface on orthotropic half-plates

The problem of a crack normal to and terminating at an interface in two joined orthotropic plates is considered and the eigenequation for the asymptotic behavior of stresses at the crack tip on the interface is given in an explicit form. It is found that the singular stress field around the crack tip can be separated into two independent fields, respectively of the mode I and II. Also it is found that for both the mode I and II deformations the effects of elastic constants on the stress singularity order can be respectively expressed by three material parameters, two of which are the same for both the mode I and mode II deformations.     

Interface crack problems in graded orthotropic media: Analytical and computational approaches

Interface crack problems in graded orthotropic media are considered using analytical and computational techniques. In the analytical formulation an interface crack between a graded orthotropic coating and a homogeneous orthotropic substrate is considered. The principal axes of orthotropy are assumed to be parallel and perpendicular to the crack plane. Mechanical properties of the medium are assumed to be continuous with discontinuous derivatives at the interface. The problem is formulated in terms of the averaged constants of plane orthotropic elasticity and reduced to a pair of singular integral equations which are solved numerically to compute the mixed mode stress intensity factors and the energy release rate. In the second part of the study, enriched finite elements are formulated and implemented for graded orthotropic materials. Comparisons of the finite element and analytical results show that enriched finite element technique is capable of producing highly accurate results for crack problems in graded orthotropic media. Finally, periodic interface cracking and the four point bending test for graded orthotropic solids are modeled using enriched finite elements and the results are briefly discussed.     

Rotation at the crack tip and COD of mode I crack in anisotropic plate

Rigid body rotation is obtained at the points near crack tip of mode I crack in infinite anisotropic plate. Using Lekhnitskii's complex analysis procedure the rotation is expressed in terms of complex potentials and complex parameters of the material. A relation of crack tip rotation is obtained by incorporating the stress intensity factor and complex parameters for the known crack configuration. An equation of crack opening displacement is derived. For the case of plates made of composite materials the features of crack tip rotation and crack edge profile due to mode I loading are described.     

Bimaterial Four Point Bend Specimen with Sub-Interface Crack

Asymmetric four point bend specimens are often used for determination mode II fracture toughness. Different corrections were proposed to classical solution of Stress Intensity Factors for this specimen. This paper provides a solution for a bi-material four point specimen with sub-interface crack. The solutions were obtained using Finite Element Analysis, and the effect of crack distance to interface, crack length and materials combination were investigated.     

An energy based mode III fracture criterion for composites

In this work, a new fracture hypothesis referred to as the Z-criterion is developed for mode III cracks in orthotropic composite materials. The new theory predicts critical crack propagation conditions and the crack propagation direction. The Z-criterion (Zhang et al., Engng Fracture Mech. 34, 749–769 (1989) (S-criterion) (Sih, Proc. 10th SES Annual Meeting, 221–234, Boston (1975)) removes certain deficiencies by considering separately the dilatational and distortional strain energy density factors. It suggests that under mode I conditions, crack initiation is controlled by the dilatational strain energy density factor and for mode II and mode III conditions, crack initiation is controlled by the distortional strain energy density factor (Zhang et al. A new Z-criterion… submitted to Engng Fracture Mech.). These controlling parameters allow extension to mixed mode and three dimension crack analysis. Eleven different composite materials are used to test and verify the proposed Z-criterion.     

A model for interface cracks in layered orthotropic solids: Convergence of modal decomposition using the interaction integral method

The mode‐partitioning problem for bimaterial interfaces is still not resolved by the classical fracture mechanics approach in a satisfactory manner. Stress oscillations and overlapping crack faces are a direct consequence of the rigorous solution of the elastic boundary value problem, if the constitutive law changes discontinuously across the interface. Conversely, continuously varying material properties, also referred to as functionally graded materials (FGM), avoid these physically not admissible drawbacks. In this case the crack tip fields are of the same nature as those known from homogeneous materials. Therefore, the well‐established stress intensity factor concept can be used without any changes. Following this motivation an FGM‐interface model for delaminated composite beam structures was developed and its characteristics with respect to the modal decomposition of the crack tip fields were investigated. The considered beam structures consisted of two orthotropic layers, each of a different material. The spatial variation of the material properties in the interface region was modeled by a tanh ‐function introducing one transition parameter that controlled the FGM‐gradient. Four load cases were analyzed for each structural configuration: either a unit normal force or a unit bending moment was imposed on each end of the split beam. Thus, any load case can be simply reconstructed from the presented results by means of superposition. The stress intensity factors for modes I and II were then evaluated using an interaction integral method along with the finite element method. The corresponding results are given depending on the mesh density of the interface region, the integration domain and the transition parameter. In this manner, the influence of the transition parameter on the mode ratio and on the convergence behavior of the modal decomposition scheme with respect to its integration domain was identified. Finally, the ability of the FGM‐interface model to represent bimaterial interfaces while still maintaining the advantages of crack analysis in homogeneous materials was highlighted. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Torsion of carbon fiber composite pyramidal core sandwich plates

A combined theoretical, experimental and numerical investigation of carbon fiber composite pyramidal core sandwich plates subjected to torsion loading is conducted. Pyramidal core sandwich plates are made from carbon fiber composite material by a hot compression molding method. Based on the Classical Laminate Plate Theory and Shear Deformation Theory, the equivalent mechanical properties of laminated face-sheet are obtained; based on a homogenization concept combined with a mechanical of materials approach, the equivalent in-plane and out-of-plane shear moduli of pyramidal core are obtained. A torsion solution is derived with Prandtl stress function and can be used in the sandwich plate with orthotropic face-sheets and orthotropic core. The influences of material properties and geometrical parameters on the equivalent torsional stiffness are explored. In order to verify the accuracy of the analytical torsion solution, experimental tests of sandwich plate samples with different face-sheet thicknesses are conducted and two types of finite element models are developed. Good agreements among analytical predictions, finite element simulations and experimental evaluations are achieved, which prove the validity of the present derivation and simulation. The proposed method could also be applied in design applications and optimization of the pyramidal core sandwich structures.     

Thermoelastic and infrared-thermography methods for surface strains in cracked orthotropic composite materials

Two quantitative thermoelastic strain analysis (TSA) experimental methods are proposed to determine the surface strain fields in mechanically loaded orthotropic materials using the spatial distribution of temperature gradient measured from the surface. Cyclic loadings are applied to orthotropic composite specimens to achieve adiabatic conditions. The small change in surface temperatures that resulted from the change in the elastic strain energy is measured using a high sensitivity infrared (IR) camera that is synchronized with the applied loading. The first method is applied for layered orthotropic composites with a coat layer made of isotropic or in-plane transversely isotropic material. In this case, one material parameter (pre-calibrated from the surface) is required to map the strain invariant to the temperature gradients. The proposed method can be used together with Lekhnitskii’s elasticity solution to quantify the full strain field and determine mixed-mode stress intensity factors (SIFs) for crack tips in composite plates subjected to off-axis loading. The second method is formulated for orthotropic layers without a coat and it requires thermo-mechanical calibrations for two material parameters aligned with the material axes. The virtual crack closure technique (VCCT), Lekhnitskii’s and Savin’s elasticity solutions, and finite element (FE) analyses are used for demonstrations and validations of the second experimental method. The SIFs from the TSA methods are very sensitive to the uncertainty in the location of the crack tip and the unknown inelastic or damage zone size around the crack tip. The two experimental methods are effective in generating the strain fields around notched and other FRP composites.     

Stress intensity factors for cracks emanating from a circular hole in an infinite quasi‐orthotropic plane

An infinite quasi‐orthotropic plane with a cracked circular hole under tensile loading at infinity is studied analytically. To this end, complex variable theory of Muskhelishvili is used. In addition, to obtain analytical functions, a new conformal mapping is proposed and expanded to series expressions. Stress intensity factors (SIFs) for two unequal cracks emanating from a circular hole are obtained. To validate the analytical SIFs in a quasi‐orthotropic plane, the results are compared with FEM and the results of isotropic plane. The SIFs for small cracks in a quasi‐orthotropic and an isotropic plane are different, because of difference between stress concentrations in points which cracks emanate from the hole. However, the results of quasi‐orthotropic plane converge to isotropic plane for the large cracks. Therefore, the SIFs of the large cracks in a quasi‐orthotropic plane can be replaced by the results of the center crack with equivalent length in an isotropic plane.     

复合材料层合板振动的边界元法

本文用边界元法分析了复合材料特殊正交各向异性层合板的振动.为了克服在用边界元法求解正交各向异性层合板振动时寻求相应的基本解的困难,本文采用了傅立叶级数形式的近似基本解.算例说明了近似基本解方法的可行性和有效性.