62-istam-sm-fp-93

Proceedings of 62nd Congress of ISTAM (http://istam.iitkgp.ac.in)

Held at: University College of Engineering, Osmania University, India, Dec. 15-18, 2017
(http://www.uceou.edu/)

Effect of Inclusions on the Behaviour of Cracks in Three Dimensional

Engineering Components

Avnish Kumar1, Danish Ali1, Azher Jameel2, G. A. Harmain3

1
Student, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University Katra, India.
E-mail: 14bme014@smvdu.ac.in
2
Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University Katra, India. E-
mail: jameelazher@gmail.com
3
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Srinagar, Hazratbal, India. E-
mail: gharmain@nitsri.net

Abstract: The effect of inclusions on the behaviour of cracks in three dimensional engineering
components has been investigated in this paper by employing the conventional finite element
method. The effect of size and position of inclusions on the cracked structures is presented in the
paper. The mixed-mode stress intensity factors in three dimensional cracked specimens have been
computed by employing the domain based interaction integral approach. Finally, several numerical
problems have been solved by the finite element method to demonstrate the effect of different
types of inclusions on the behaviour of cracks in three dimensional components. It has been
observed that the weak inclusions reduce the load carrying capacity of cracked components.
Keywords: Cracks; Inclusions; Stress intensity factors; J-integral; Interaction integral

1. Introduction

The presence of inclusions in a cracked structure has a drastic effect on its load carrying capacity.
It is very important to investigate the behaviour of cracks in the presence of inclusions and other
material irregularities in order to maintain the safety and reliability of engineering structures. There
are number of numerical techniques that have been employed for modelling the behaviour of
cracks in engineering structures. The techniques used to model the phenomenon of crack growth
in engineering structures include the standard finite element method [1], the extended finite
element method [2, 3], boundary element method [4-6] and the element free Galerkin method [7-
10]. Among all the tools mentioned above, FEM is still the most dominant and widely used
numerical tool used for finding the solution of various engineering problems. In three dimensional
configurations, it is very challenging for any numerical technique to evaluate various fracture
62-istam-sm-fp-93

Proceedings of 62nd Congress of ISTAM (http://istam.iitkgp.ac.in)

Held at: University College of Engineering, Osmania University, India, Dec. 15-18, 2017
(http://www.uceou.edu/)

mechanics parameters under mixed mode loadings, such as stress intensity factors and J-integral.
The techniques which are used for evaluation of fracture mechanics parameters include J-integral
technique, virtual crack extension method and singularity techniques. The most general and useful
way to investigate the behaviour of cracked structures is using the J-integral approach. The J-
integral technique uses the energy approach and methods based on energy approach have higher
convergence rates compared to other techniques.

The present paper investigates the behaviour of cracks in three dimensional engineering structures
containing different types of inclusions by employing the standard finite element method. The
present paper uses the domain based interaction integral approach for the computation of mixed
mode stress intensity factors. The paper presents the effect of position and size of inclusions on
three dimensional cracked structures by using the conventional finite element method.

2. Finite Element Approximations

The equilibrium equation for a deformable body with an external surface ′Γ′, enclosing a three
dimensional domain ′Ω′, can be written as

∫Ω 𝛔: 𝛆 dΩ − ∫Ω 𝐛: 𝐮 dΩ − ∫𝛤 𝐭: 𝐮 d𝛤𝑡 = 0 (1)
𝑡

where the external surface ′Γ′ is divided into traction (Γ𝑡 ), displacement (Γ𝑢 ) and traction free
crack surfaces (Γ𝑐 ). 𝛔 and 𝛆 are the stresses and strains, respectively. The stresses are related to
the strains as 𝛔 = 𝐃𝛆, where 𝐃 is the Hooke’s matrix. The body and external force vectors are
represented by 𝐛 and 𝐭, respectively. The displacement field and the geometry of the domain can
be approximated in FEM as

𝑢ℎ (𝐱) = ∑𝑛𝑖=1 𝑁𝑖𝑒 (𝐱)𝑢𝑖 ; ̌𝑖 (𝜉, 𝜂, 𝜁)

𝐱 = ∑𝑛𝑖 𝐱 𝑖 𝑁 (2)
1
̌𝑖 (𝜉, 𝜂, 𝜁) =
where 𝑁 (1 + 𝜉𝑖 𝜉)(1 + 𝜂𝑖 𝜂)(1 + 𝜁𝑖 𝜁) and (𝜉, 𝜂, 𝜁) are the master coordinates of the
8

element. Substitution of the FEM approximation in the equilibrium equation yields the final finite
element model as [𝑲]{𝒖} = {𝒇}, such that

𝑲 = ∫𝜴 𝑩𝑻 𝑫𝑩𝑑Ω ; 𝒇 = ∫Ω 𝐍𝑇 𝐛𝑑 Ω + ∫ᴦ 𝐍𝑇 𝐭𝑑ᴦ (3)

62-istam-sm-fp-93

Proceedings of 62nd Congress of ISTAM (http://istam.iitkgp.ac.in)

Held at: University College of Engineering, Osmania University, India, Dec. 15-18, 2017
(http://www.uceou.edu/)

𝑁𝑖,𝑥 0 0
0 𝑁𝑖,𝑦 0
0 0 𝑁𝑖,𝑧
𝑩= 𝑁 (4)
𝑖,𝑦 𝑁𝑖,𝑥 0
0 𝑁𝑖,𝑧 𝑁𝑖,𝑦
𝑁
[ 𝑖,𝑧 0 𝑁𝑖,𝑥 ]

3. Evaluation of Fracture Parameters

The J-integral for cracked bodies can be defined in standard form as

𝜕𝑢
𝐽 = ∫Γ (𝑊𝑑𝑦 − 𝑇 𝜕𝑥 𝑑𝑠) (5)

where Γ represents any arbitrary closed contour surrounding the crack tip, 𝑑𝑠 is the coordinate
measured along the closed contour, 𝑊 denotes the strain energy density and the applied traction
vector is given by 𝑇. The domain based interaction integral can be defined as

(2) (1)
(1) 𝜕𝑢𝑖 (2) 𝜕𝑢𝑖 𝜕𝑞
𝑀(1,2) = ∫Ω [𝜎𝑖𝑗 + 𝜎𝑖𝑗 − 𝑊 (1,2) 𝛿𝑖𝑗 ] 𝜕𝑥 𝑑Ω (6)
𝜕𝑥1 𝜕𝑥1 𝑗

where, ′𝑞 ′ has a value of 0 and 1 along the contour and the crack tip, respectively. The actual and
the auxiliary states of the loaded body are represented by ′1′ and ′2′, respectively. The mutual
strain energy for any two equilibrium states is given as

1 (1) (2) (2) (1) (1) (2) (2) (1)

𝑊 (1,2) = 2 (𝜎𝑖𝑗 𝜀𝑖𝑗 + 𝜎𝑖𝑗 𝜀𝑖𝑗 ) = 𝜎𝑖𝑗 𝜀𝑖𝑗 = 𝜎𝑖𝑗 𝜀𝑖𝑗 (7)

The relationship between the interaction integral and mixed mode stress intensity
factors (𝐾𝐼 , 𝐾𝐼𝐼 , 𝐾𝐼𝐼𝐼 ) in three dimensional cracked components can be written as

2 (1) (2) (1) (2) 2(1+𝜈) (1) (2)

𝑀(1,2) = 𝐸∗ (𝐾𝐼 𝐾𝐼 + 𝐾𝐼𝐼 𝐾𝐼𝐼 ) + (𝐾𝐼𝐼𝐼 𝐾𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼 ) (8)
𝐸

𝐸
where, 𝐸 ∗ = 1−𝜇2 for plane strain conditions and 𝐸 ∗ = 𝐸 for plane stress state. For obtaining the
𝑀 (1,𝐼) 𝐸 ∗
mode-I stress intensity factors, we use 𝐾𝐼(2) = 1 and 𝐾𝐼𝐼(2) = 𝐾𝐼𝐼𝐼
(2) (1)
= 0, that gives 𝐾𝐼 = 2
.
𝑀 (1,𝐼𝐼) 𝐸 ∗
When 𝐾𝐼(2) = 𝐾𝐼𝐼𝐼
(2) (2) (1)
= 0 and 𝐾𝐼𝐼 = 1, mode-II stress intensity factor is obtained as 𝐾𝐼𝐼 = 2
.
62-istam-sm-fp-93

Proceedings of 62nd Congress of ISTAM (http://istam.iitkgp.ac.in)

Held at: University College of Engineering, Osmania University, India, Dec. 15-18, 2017
(http://www.uceou.edu/)

Similarly, when 𝐾𝐼(2) = 𝐾𝐼𝐼(2) = 0 and 𝐾𝐼𝐼𝐼

(2)
= 1, the mode-III stress intensity factors can be
(1) 𝑀 (1,𝐼𝐼𝐼) 𝐸
obtained as 𝐾𝐼𝐼𝐼 =
2(1+𝜈)
.

4. Numerical Results and Discussions

In this section, some numerical problems have been solved to investigate the behaviour of a three
dimensional cracked plates in presence of inclusions by employing the standard finite element
method. The present paper uses the domain based interaction integral approach for the computation
of mixed mode stress intensity factors. The effect of position and size of inclusions on three
dimensional cracked structures by using the conventional finite element method is presented here.
Different fracture mechanics parameters such as stress intensity factors and J-integral have been
evaluated in the present work.

4.1. Effect of Size of Inclusion

A center cracked three dimensional structural steel plate, containing an inclusion of young’s
modulus of 30 GPa, is considered for analysis. The geometry of the specimen is cuboidal with
dimensions200 × 100 × 30 𝑚𝑚, as shown in Figure 1. The length of the center crack is 30 𝑚𝑚.
The cracked specimen is subjected to static load of 240 𝑀𝑃𝑎 at the top edge whereas the bottom
edge of the plate is kept fixed during simulation. The position of the inclusion is kept fixed whereas
the radius of the inclusion has been changed from 5 𝑚𝑚 to 25 𝑚𝑚. The variation of mode-I stress
intensity factors and J-integral with load for different radii of inclusions are shown in Figure 2
and Figure 3, respectively. It has been observed that the presence of inclusions reduces the load
carrying capacity of the cracked component.
62-istam-sm-fp-93

Proceedings of 62nd Congress of ISTAM (http://istam.iitkgp.ac.in)

Held at: University College of Engineering, Osmania University, India, Dec. 15-18, 2017
(http://www.uceou.edu/)

(a) (b)

Figure 1: Three dimensional center cracked component (a) without inclusion (b) with inclusion

60
homogenous plate
R=5mm
R=10mm
50
R=15mm
R=20mm
R=25mm
40
SIF (KI)

30

20

10

0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Load (MPa)

Figure 2: Variation of mode-I stress intensity factors with load

62-istam-sm-fp-93

Proceedings of 62nd Congress of ISTAM (http://istam.iitkgp.ac.in)

Held at: University College of Engineering, Osmania University, India, Dec. 15-18, 2017
(http://www.uceou.edu/)

25
homogenous plate
R=5mm
R=10mm
20 R=15mm
R=20mm
R=25mm
J-Intergal ( kJ/m2 )

15

10

0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Load (MPa)

Figure 3: Variation of J-integral with load

4.2. Effect of Position of Inclusion

This section presents the effect of the position of inclusions on the behavior of a three dimensional
center cracked specimen. The position of inclusion keeps on changing while its radius is kept
constant at15 𝑚𝑚, during analysis. The cracked specimen is subjected to a monotonic load of
240 𝑀𝑃𝑎 at the top edge whereas the bottom edge of the plate is kept fixed during simulation. The
variation of mode-I stress intensity factors and J-integral with load for different positions of
inclusions are shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5, respectively. It has been observed that the load
carrying capacity of the cracked plate reduces as the inclusion approaches the crack. The effect of
the inclusion position becomes more severe as the it reaches closer and closer to the crack present
in the specimen.
62-istam-sm-fp-93

Proceedings of 62nd Congress of ISTAM (http://istam.iitkgp.ac.in)

Held at: University College of Engineering, Osmania University, India, Dec. 15-18, 2017
(http://www.uceou.edu/)

100
homogenous plate
90 h=60mm
h=50mm
80 h=40mm
h=30mm
70
SIF ( MPa m )

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Load (MPa)

Figure 4: Variations of mode-I stress intensity factors with load

70
homogenous plate
h=60mm
60 h=50mm
h=40mm
h=30mm
50
J-Intergal ( kJ/m2 )

40

30

20

10

0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Load (MPa)

Figure 5: Variation of J-integral with load for different inclusion positions

62-istam-sm-fp-93

Proceedings of 62nd Congress of ISTAM (http://istam.iitkgp.ac.in)

Held at: University College of Engineering, Osmania University, India, Dec. 15-18, 2017
(http://www.uceou.edu/)

5. Conclusions

The present paper demonstrates the behavior of three dimensional cracked specimens in presence
of inclusions by employing the standard finite element method. The effect of size and position of
inclusions on different fracture mechanics parameters has been presented here. It has been
observed that the load carrying capacity of the cracked structures reduces due to the presence of
inclusions in it. The effect of inclusions becomes more pronounced as the size of the inclusion
increases. The position of inclusions has a drastic effect on fracture mechanics parameters and load
carrying capacity of the cracked structures.

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Proceedings of 62nd Congress of ISTAM (http://istam.iitkgp.ac.in)

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