Fracture assessment of graphite V‐notched and U‐notched specimens by using the cohesive crack model

This article explores the capability of the Cohesive Zone Model in predicting the critical load of blunt notched specimens made of coarse‐grained polycrystalline graphite, a brittle material that has gained the attention of researchers because of its favourable properties for protection against thermal loads. To that aim, 39 different tests on U‐notched and V‐notched specimens made of this material, with loading modes raging from mode I to mixed mode I/II, have been modelled by using the Cohesive Zone Model. The model has been implemented through the embedded crack approach, avoiding thus the necessity of defining the crack trajectory prior to the simulation because it is automatically generated once the maximum principal stress overcomes the tensile strength of the material. The numerical predictions obtained show good agreement with the experimental results.