Fatigue Crack Growth under Mode I, II and III for Plane-strain and Plane-stress Conditions

Fatigue crack growth (FCG) could be encountered in many mechanical components, which can be made from either thin or thick steel plates (or shells) and, therefore, be subjected to a plane-stress or a plane-strain condition, respectively. The loads applied in a solid body containing a narrow notch or a sharp crack will induce a yield zone near its tip with a dimension that will depend on the mechanical properties of the material, as well as on the thickness of the body, the crack length and the magnitude of the loads applied. Crack propagation can then occur under mode I, II, III or mixed-mode for general loading.The paper presents JI, JII and JIII integral functions, which were correlated with the elastic stress intensity factors KI, KII and KIII, for thin and thick CT specimens. The evaluation of J-Integral values was carried out for different crack lengths, along the crack front, and using the Finite Element Method (FEM), with collapsed nodes and midside nodes dislocated to ¼ of the edge's length, in order to simulate the crack tip singularity. Interaction between in-plane, in-plane sliding and out-of-plane modes are also discussed in the paper. In addition, FCG rates under mode I, mode III and a mixed-mode (mode I+III) were experimentally determined, at room temperature, for a high-strength Cr-Mn austenitic stainless steel.