Frac/III

ED 1624 : MECHANICS OF FRACTURE

EXERCISES IN UNIT III: AUG 2006

Part A
1. Discuss the energy changes during crack extension?
2. What is singularity? How is it alleviated in analysis?
3. Why does the compliance of a component increase with growth of crack?
4. Where does CTOD find its use more?
5. What is plane stress and plane strain analysis?
6. Write short notes on embedded cracks.
7. What is crack closure? Why does it happen?
8. Explain critical energy release rate.
9. Why does a brittle material not have a stable crack growth?
10. Why are thin plates tougher in comparison to thick plates?
Part B
11. Derive the equation for the energy release rate of DCB specimen.
12. For a center crack in an infinite plate loaded in mode I, determine stress component and displacement
components (plane stress) near the vicinity of crack tip in terms of KI.
13. Explain the two methods used for crack -arrest with proper sketch.
14. How the energy release rate was determined for Fibre reinforced composites?
15. From the basic principles derive the compatibility relations of a two dimensional fracture mechanics problem.
16. Define R-curve and critical energy release rate. How do they differ for plain strain and plain stress condition
17. What is dynamic energy balance? Explain the phenomenon for a uni-axial model
18. Explain Griffith analysis of a crack of size 2a and establish a relationship for critical crack size.
19. A thick plate of aluminium alloy, 175 mm wide, contains a centrally-locked crack 75 mm in length. The plate
experiences brittle fracture at an applied stress (uniaxial, transverse to the crack) of 110 MPa. Determine the
fracture toughness of the material. What would the fracture stress be if the plate were wide enough to permit
an assumption of infinite width?
20. A pressure vessel is constructed with a diameter of 450 mm and a length of 1830mm. The vessel is to be
capable of withstanding an internal pressure of 7 MPa and the wall thickness is such as to keep the nominal
hoop stress under 17.5 MPa. However, the vessel bursts at an internal pressure of 3.5 MPa, and a
micrographic investigation reveals the fracture to have been initiated by an internal crack 2.5 mm in length.

Calculate the fracture toughness  K IC  of the material.

21. A crack of 3 mm length is emanated from the surface of a 50 mm diameter hole in a large plate. Compute the
maximum stress that would not allow the crack to grow. KIC=55 MPa√m, ys=300 MPa, E=207 GPa.

22. A steel structural member with a stress concentration factor of 3 is subjected to a nominal design stress (ys/2)
For the material, E = 210 GPa, ys = 1 GPa, crit = 0.5 mm. Determine the Maximum crack length the
member can withstand without failure.
23. Determine GIC, JIC and CTODc if material properties of a hardened steel are σys = 700 MPa, E = 207 GPa, KIC
= 48 MPa √m and γ = 0.3
24. A beam with rectangular cross section, t=20mm and W=40mm, is loaded with a bending moment M as shown
in the figure. A 12 mm deep crack (a=12mm) has appeared in the beam (see figure ). In order to increase the
load-carrying capacity of the cracked beam, the material around the crack is removed. It is decided that 9mm

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of the beam height should be removed by grinding. Material properties: K IC = 40 MPa m and

 y  900 MPa (a) How much has the ultimate bending moment been increased by the grinding? (b) What
bending moment can be put on the beam if 12 mm were removed?

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