Steady crack growth in a thin, ductile plate under small-scale yielding conditions: Three-dimensional modeling

This work employs high resolution, finite element computations to investigate key features of the elastic–plastic fields near a steadily advancing crack at quasi-static rates under three-dimensional, small-scale yielding conditions. The model represents a structurally thin component constructed of a material (e.g., Al and Ti alloys) with flow stress and fracture toughness properties that together limit the size of the in-plane plastic zone during steady-growth to no more than several multiples of the plate thickness. The computational approach generalizes the streamline integration procedure used previously for two-dimensional studies into three dimensions to represent steady-state growth on a fixed mesh in a boundary-layer framework. The plate thickness provides the only geometrical length scale. Crack extension occurs at the remotely applied, fixed loading without the need for a local growth criterion. In the first computations of this type, the present work considers a straight crack front advancing under local and global mode I loading with zero T-stress in a moderately hardening material. Applied remote loads at steady growth generate plastic zone sizes ahead of the advancing crack front ranging from 0.25 to 6.4 times the thickness. Key results include: (1) the crack-front fields exhibit a self-similar scaling characterized by a non-dimensional loading parameter; (2) three-dimensional effects extend to distances of approximately 1.5–2.5 times the thickness ahead of the advancing crack front for key values of this loading parameter, beyond which the fields (elastic–plastic then linear-elastic at greater distances) become uniform over the thickness; and (3) crack opening profiles on the outside surface reveal a “wedge-like”, opening shape which simplifies the definition of a crack-tip opening angle.