Mismatch Effect on the Mode II Type Crack Tip Field in Power-Law Creeping Materials

Abstract

The mismatch effect in weldments are widely to be seen in engineering practices. In this paper, the material mismatch effect on the mode II creep crack tip field is investigated and discussed. The effects of material mismatch and heat affected zone (HAZ) width on the C(t)-integral are presented. Both the local mismatch effect and the general mismatch effect are found to play important roles in the variations of C(t)-integral. The mismatch effect on the stress field of the mode II creep crack is also studied. The two-order term solutions are presented to characterize the material mismatch constraint effect on the mode II type creep crack. Some typical cases by considering general mismatch effect and local mismatch effect are given so as to make comparisons between the HRR field, FE solutions and the two-order term solutions. It can be seen that the two-order term solutions can coincide with the FE solutions quite reasonably regardless of creep extent, creep exponent, mismatch factor and HAZ width. This research also reveals the significant effect of the material mismatch on the high order term solutions under various conditions for mode II creep crack.