J-Q characterization of propagating cracks

An investigation is performed to determine to what extent the state at a growing crack tip vicinity can be characterised by J and Q calculated from FE analyses of successively stationary crack tip positions. FE models in two-dimensionals of single edge notch bend and double edge cracked panel specimens with several different crack lengths are used to cover a range of load and constraint levels. The stress and strain fields are compared between different specimens keeping J- and Q-values equal. A remeshing technique in the commercial FE-code ABAQUS is used to enhance the efficiency of the analysis. The results show that the J-Q-theory provides reasonably accurate crack tip characterization also for growing cracks. This leads to the conclusion that FE analyses of successive stationary cracks rather than full FE propagation analyses are sufficient. The limit of validity for propagation is similar to the validation limit for the stationary case, although somewhat more restrictive.