This book provides a systematic and standardized approach based on the authors’ over 30 years of research experience with weight function methods, as well as the relevant literature. Fracture mechanics has become an indispensable tool for the design and safe operation of damage-tolerant structures in many important technical areas. The stress intensity factor—the characterizing parameter of the crack tip field—is the foundation of fracture mechanics analysis. The weight function method is a powerful technique for determining stress intensity factors and crack opening displacements for complex load conditions, with remarkable computational efficiency and high accuracy. The book presents the theoretical background of the weight function methods, together with a wealth of analytical weight functions and stress intensity factors for two- and three-dimensional crack geometries; many of these have been incorporated into national, international standards and industrial codes of practice. The accuracy of the results is rigorously verified, and various sample applications are provided. Accordingly, the book offers an ideal reference source for graduate students, researchers, and engineers whose work involves fracture and fatigue of materials and structures, who need not only stress intensity factors themselves but also efficient and reliable tools for obtaining them.

Fracture mechanics is an indispensible tool in the design and safe operation of damage tolerant structures. One of the essential elements in fracture mechanics based analysis is the stress intensity factor. This book provides a powerful theoretical background to the weight function method in fracture mechanics and numerous stress intensity factors. Part I gives a theoretical background and overview of the weight function method. Part II provides further details of the weight functions for various geometries and a large number of stress intensity factor solutions. Part II deals with the determination of crack opening displacements, Dugdale model solutions and crack opening areas.

In this book the authors describe methods for the calculation of weight functions. In the first part they discuss the accuracy and convergence behaviour of methods for one- and two-dimensional cracks, while in the second part they provide solutions for cracks subjected to mode-I and mode-II loading.

The purpose of this book is to present, describe and demonstrate the use of numerical methods in solving crack problems in fracture mechanics. The text concentrates, to a large extent, on the application of the Boundary Element Method (BEM) to fracture mechanics, although an up-to-date account of recent advances in other numerical methods such as the Finite Element Method is also presented. The book is an integrated presentation of modem numerical fracture mechanics, it contains a compilation of the work of many researchers as well as accounting for some of authors' most recent work on the subject. It is hoped that this book will bridge the gap that exists between specialist books on theoretical fracture mechanics on one hand, and texts on numerical methods on the other. Although most of the methods presented are the latest developments in the field of numerical fracture mechanics, the authors have also included some simple techniques which are essential for understanding the physical principles that govern crack problems in general. Different numerical techniques are described in detail and where possible simple examples are included, as well as test results for more complicated problems. The book consists of six chapters. The first chapter initially describes the historical development of theoretical fracture mechanics, before proceeding to present the basic concepts such as energy balance, stress intensity factors, residual strength and fatigue crack growth as well as briefly describing the importance of stress intensity factors in corrosion and residual stress cracking.

Papers of the June 1990 meeting held in Atlanta, Ga. The first volume (47 papers) concentrates on experimental and theoretical aspects of fracture mechanics. Volume two (26 papers) covers numerical and computational approaches. Topics include: ductile fracture, high-temperature and time-dependent fr

On Fracture Mechanics A major objective of engineering design is the determination of the geometry and dimensions of machine or structural elements and the selection of material in such a way that the elements perform their operating function in an efficient, safe and economic manner. For this reason the results of stress analysis are coupled with an appropriate failure criterion. Traditional failure criteria based on maximum stress, strain or energy density cannot adequately explain many structural failures that occurred at stress levels considerably lower than the ultimate strength of the material. On the other hand, experiments performed by Griffith in 1921 on glass fibers led to the conclusion that the strength of real materials is much smaller, typically by two orders of magnitude, than the theoretical strength. The discipline of fracture mechanics has been created in an effort to explain these phenomena. It is based on the realistic assumption that all materials contain crack-like defects from which failure initiates. Defects can exist in a material due to its composition, as second-phase particles, debonds in composites, etc. , they can be introduced into a structure during fabrication, as welds, or can be created during the service life of a component like fatigue, environment-assisted or creep cracks. Fracture mechanics studies the loading-bearing capacity of structures in the presence of initial defects. A dominant crack is usually assumed to exist.