Nonlinear Fatigue Crack Growth Analysis of a Center Crack Plate by XFEM

Abstract

In the present article, the fatigue life of a center crack plate has been evaluated using XFEM in the presence of defects (holes, inclusions and minor cracks). The effect of plasticity is also evaluated on the fatigue life of the components. A generalized Ramberg-Osgood material model has been used to model the stress-strain behavior of the material. Von-Mises yield criterion has been used with isotropic strain hardening. A domain based approach is used to calculate the values of J-integral for two fracture modes (mode-I and mode-II). The values of stress intensity factor are evaluated from the J-integral values. Paris law is used to calculate the fatigue life under cyclic loading. Finally, the results obtained by linear and elasto-plastic analysis are compared with each other.