A Strip-Yield Model for Part-Through Surface Flaws Under Monotonic Loading

A slice synthesis methodology was developed and used to construct a weight function based strip-yield model for a semi-elliptical part-through surface flaw in an elastic-perfectly plastic material under monotonic loading.The model enables rapid approximate computation of crack surface displacements and the crack front plastic zone size. A mathematical description of the model is presented. A model verification is discussed in which results from the strip-yield model were compared with results from finite element analyses. Crack surface displacements and crack mouth opening displacements from the model are shown to compare well with results from detailed three-dimensional elastic-plastic finite element analyses. Plastic zone sizes from the model were found to be significantly larger than those determined from the finite element model.