Applicability of Static Analysis for Fracture Characterization of 3D Elliptical Disc Crack Under Dynamic Impact Loading
Keywords:
Dynamic stress intensity factor, Dynamic fracture toughness, Elliptical disc crack, Fracture mechanics, Impact loadAbstract
Engineering and industrial structures, such as pressure vessels, power plants, and offshore platforms, may develop defects like cracks and corrosion during manufacturing and service life. These defects significantly affect the dynamic load response of the structure, complicating the prediction of the structure’s carrying capacity and the accuracy of risk assessments. Due to this complexity, characterizing the dynamic stress intensity factor is challenging. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the dynamic response of defective structures. This study aims to analyze the dynamic fracture mechanics of a buried three-dimensional elliptical disc crack using finite element analysis by examining the stress response under dynamic impact loads. The influence of the crack geometry of the elliptical disc crack on the structural strength of different materials; aluminum alloy, stainless steel and cast iron, was further examined and compared with static analysis. The results of finite element analysis show that under impact load, when the elliptical disc crack is relatively small and the structure’s dimension can be considered infinitely large, the crack geometry noticeably affects the stress distribution and stress magnitude the crack tip, which is consistent with the mathematical deduction. Under the same dynamic loading and crack geometry conditions, brittle cast iron is more sensitive to dynamic impact than stainless steel and aluminum alloy, with stress magnitudes in cast iron also a little higher than those in the other two materials. Stress analysis of the crack tip further reveals that the distribution of stress field under impact load is similar to that under static load, and the maximum principal stress under dynamic impact load is lower than that under static load for all three materials. Based on these findings, the static maximum principal stress analysis can sufficiently be used to characterize fracture properties of three-dimensional cracked bodies under dynamic impact loading and reduce the workload associated with the dynamic analysis.References
[1] J.W. Hutchinson, Singular behaviour at the end of a tensile crack in a hardening material, Journal of the Mechanics of Physics of Solids, 16, 1968, 13-31.
[2] C. Chih, On the criterion for crack extension, Acta Metallurgica Sinica, 13, 1977, 57-153.
[3] A. Carpinteri and M. Paggi, Asymptotic analysis in linear elasticity: From the pioneering studies by Wieghardt and Irwin until today, Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 76, 2009, 1771-1784.
[4] T. Adibaskoro, S. Bordas, W. T. Sołowski and S. Hostikka, Multiple discrete crack initiation and propagation in material point method, Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 301, 2024, 109918.
[5] A. K. Pandouria and V. Tiwari, Investigations into the static and dynamic fracture initiation and propagation toughness of AA2014-T6 incorporating temperatures effects, Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 281, 2023, 109136.
[6] L. B. Freund, Dynamic Fracture Mechanics (Cambridge Monographs on Mechanics and Applied Mathematics), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
[7] S. M. Nabavi and A. R. Shahani, Dynamic stress intensity factors for a longitudinal semi-elliptical crack in a thick-walled cylinder, International Journal of Engineering, Science and Technology, 6, 2014, 57-77.
[8] Z. Zhang, H. Wang, L. Zhong and L. Tang, Experimental and numerical research of the behavior of 3D internal cracks under uniaxial compression using 3D-ILC technology, Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics, 124, 2023, 103819.
[9] D. He, Z. Guo, H. Ma and T. Li, Single high-order smooth element for simulating flat internal elliptical cracks, Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics, 136, 2025, 104838.
[10] T. L. Anderson, Fracture mechanics: fundamentals and applications, Boca Raton: CRC Press, 1991.
[11] C. Zhang, R. Sun, J. Yin, Y. Hu, Q. Dou, Z. Tang, Y. Miao and Y. Li, Failure behaviours of steel/aluminium threaded connections under impact fatigue, Engineering Failure Analysis, 174, 2025, 109473.
[12] F. Tianyou, Theoretical Basis of Fracture, Beijing: Science Press, 2003.
[13] A. E. Green and I. N. Snedddon, The distribution of stress in the neighbourhood of a flat elliptical crack in an elastic solid, Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 46, 1950, 159-163.
[14] Y. J. Guo and J. A. Nairn. Three-dimensional dynamic fracture analysis using the material point method, Computer Modeling in Engineering and Sciences, 16, 2006, 141-155.
[15] Y. Wang, D. Xing, M. Yu and Q. Qiao, Experimental study of internal deformation in 3D solids with embedded parallel cracks during the fracture process using multi-material 3D printing and stereo digital image correlation, Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics, 137, 2025, 104884.
[16] F. Gálvez, D. Cendón, N. García, A. Enfedaque and V. Sánchez-Gálvez. Dynamic fracture toughness of a high strength armor steel, Engineering Failure Analysis, 16(8), 2009, 2567-2575.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Sun Zhufeng, Inzarulfaisham Abd Rahim, Ooi Lu Ean, Norwahida Yusoff
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:Authors hold and retain copyright, and grant the journal right of first publication, with the work after publication simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License CC BY that permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work and article without further permission provided that the original work is properly cited.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online in institutional repositories, website and other social media before and after publication, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
