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Photoelastic determination of fatigue

crack stress intensity factors

Andrew D. Nurse, Eann A. Patterson

Andrew D. Nurse, Eann A. Patterson, "Photoelastic determination of fatigue

crack stress intensity factors," Proc. SPIE 2001, Nondestructive Inspection of
Aging Aircraft, (3 December 1993); doi: 10.1117/12.163841

Event: SPIE's 1993 International Symposium on Optics, Imaging, and

Instrumentation, 1993, San Diego, CA, United States

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 Photoelastic determination of fatigue crack stress intensity factors
Andrew D. Nurse

Loughbomugh University of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Leicestershire, LE1 1 3TU, U.K.

Eann A. Patterson
University of Sheffield, Department of Mechanical & Process Engineering
Mappin Street, Sheffield, Si 3JD, U.K.

ABSTRACT
A programme of research was undertaken to develop a method to find stress intensity factors of fatigue cracks
propagating in metal structures using the method of photoelastic coatings. The method is described in this paper
along with test results to demonstate how it can be used in the analysis of fatigue crack growth.

1. INTRODUCTION
The structural integrity of ageing aircraft components is limited by the initiation of fatigue cracks in highly
stressed regions. The stress intensity factors (SIPs) may be used in the process of determining the fatigue life of
components. Alternatively, they can provide information about the material behaviour under fatigue crack growth.

The authors have developed techniques to solve SIFs using transmission and reflection photoelasticity for a
number of cracked geometrics under static loadings. For the angled-crack problem examined using cracked epoxy
resin plates in a transmission polariscope the accuracy of SW results is usually within 5% when compared with
closed-form solutions . Using this technique the SIFs for fatigue cracks developed in tuthine blade-fastening fixtures
have been obtained using transmission models2. For analyses of real components the accuracy of the technique using
reflection photbelasticity is within 7% 3. in this case the angled-crack problem has been examined using cracked
metal plates coated with a birefringent material polymer.

The capabilities of the technique used in reflection have been extended to enable analyses to be made of fatigue
cracks propagating in metal plates under cyclic loading. This required alterations to be made to the method of
obtaining photoelastic fringe patterns and collecting data, and these are described in this paper. Experiments
perfonned on centre-cracked panels in uniaxial cyclic tension have been perfoimed to show the capabilities of the
method.

2. METHOD FOR DETERMINATION OF STRESS INTENSITY FACTOR

The SIFs are calculated using data collected from the isochmmatic fringe pattern generated at the crack tip in
the photoelastic model. In this process a photographic image of the crack tip isochmmatics is attached to a digitising
pad and the position of about 75 points, where the photoelastic fringe order is known, is recorded using a commercial
CAD software package mounted on a personal computer. The SIFs are solved using a least-squares surface-fitting
routine to match the crack tip stress field equations to the data set. This is performed using a suite of FORTRAN
programs also on the computer. Verification of the solution is obtained by plotting the theoretical isochromatic
fringe pattern, determined from the mathematical stress field equation, and comparing it with the photographic image
found by experiment (figs.la and b). Comparison are also made with published results if available.

O-8194-1250-3/93/$6.QQ SHE Vol. 2001 Nondestructive Inspection of Aging Aircraft (1993) / 155
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 J1
0

2:
0
0 Fig. 1. Isochromatic fringe patterns for a fatiguecrack in a
Dural panel coated with PS-1B: a =57mm, a0=33N/m&
C

(D

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0
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(a) Experimental data points and least-squares (b) Photoelasticpattern in non-permanent coating. (c) Photoelastic pattern in permanentcoating.
fitted stress field equationsolution.
 The cyclic nature of the loading during a fatigue test means that the isochromatics in birefringent coatings
attached to the surface of the test piece will vary synchronously with the applied load. If a constant light source is
used to illuminate the coatings high-speed photography is required to produce an image of the stress pattern. This
approach is only practical in the laboratory where a programmable loading rig is used to apply the cyclic loads. To
photograph the fringe pattern at a given point in the load cyclic, e.g. at peak load, the camera must be linked to the
electronics in the loading rig so that the shutter opens at the appropriate time. Instead, it is preferable to use a strobe
light source which flashes continuously at the point of interest in the load cycle. The strobe can be synchronized
either manually if a component vibrating under service loads is to be examined or electronically in the same manner
as a high-speed camera might be linked to a loading rig. Clear colour photographic images can be obtained using a
conventional sing1-lens-reflex camera with the shutter open for the duration of about 500 flashes.

In conventional photoelasticity the principal stress difference is calculated from the value of the isochromatic
fringe order, at the point of interest, and a material fringe constant is found by calibration. For full-field
measurements the fringe order is deteimined from a pattern of dark fringes produced using either a monochromatic
light source or ifitered white light. Alternatively, the fringe order at a particular point can be found using a Babinet-
Soleil compensator in conjunction with the polariscope. The determination of SIFs requires the full-field approach,
however, in a reflection test the dark fringes are not usually as well defined at the crack tip using filtered light as
those obtained using a monochromatic light source in a transmission test. The coloured fringes in a birefringent
coating produced using white light are better defined than if a filter which transmits monochromatic light was placed
between the white light source and the model to produce bands of dark fringes. The difference in principal stresses
for each colour can still be identified by calibration in the normal manner.

In the proceeding tests, data for the determination of SIFs was lifted from a colour image of the coloured
isochromatic fringe pattern. In these coloured fringe patterns there is an inherent difficulty judging when one colour
becomes another, e.g. when red becomes orange, because there are no distinct boundaries. This can be significantly
alleviated by copying the colour photograph using a commercial colour laser copier. The copier cannot reproduce
the total spectrum of colours in the fringe pattern; instead a number of colours are produced in fine bands. An
example is show in Fig. lb which has been reprdouced from a colour laser copy using a black and white scanner.

3. EXPERIMENTS
3. 1 Calibration Test
A disc-in-compression calibration test was performed to assign stress values to the coloured bands in the
isochromatic fringe patterns. A 75mm diameter disc was manufactured from the birefringent coating PS-lB
(distributed by Measurements Group, UK) which was used to coat the fatigue test panels. To be consistent with the
fatigue tests the same strobe light source (Strobotorch Type l222A manufactured by DAWE Intsruments Ltd.) was
used to illuminate the disc which was compressed under a static diametral load of l57N. The disc was loaded such
that the fringes of the required colour would appear close to the centre of the disc. A photograph of the coloured
isochromatic fringe pattern in the dark-field set-up of the polariscope was taken with the shutter open for the duration
of 500 flashes. Finally, a colour laser copy of the photograph was obtained.

Table I: Stresses associated with coloured fringes

Description of Colour x (mm)

14.53
(— )
1.48
(N / mm 2) (c — 2Lurai( / mm 2)
43.5
dark purple
blue 12.97 1.81 53.2

SPIE Vol. 2001 Nondestructive Inspection of Aging Aircraft (1993)! 157

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 ,,
,:;:'

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I ,o-, ,o

4
4,
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 3.2 Cyclic-Load Waveform Test
The fatigue tests followed a standard procedure used to determine the fatigue crack growth perfoimance of
aerospace materials. The geometry of the test panels is shown in Fig.2 and the loading is sinusoidal between 2-38kN
at 7 cycles/sec.

The objective of the first test was to calibrated the strobe light source to flash at peak load in the fatigue cycle.
An electmnic signal fmm the load-cycle module in the control system of the fatigue testing machine was used as an
external input to the strobe to thgger the flash. The flashing of the strobe can be vailed in terms of a phase angle
between the flash and the minimum load in the cycle's sine wave. It is not immediately obvious what the value of this
angle should be fpr flashing to occur at peak load because the light source requires a finite lime to recharge.
Therefore, the SIP was determined for various phase angles in 1O increments for a complete loading sine wave
assuming that the peak SIF is coincident th the peak load

A set of 2mm thick birefringent coatings (PS-1B) were affixed to an aluminium-alloy fatigue test panel
(British Dural) in the arrangement shown in Fig.2. The coatings are separated down the expect crack growth path
because the deteimination of SIFs is not possible if the coating covers the crack. The load cycle was applied to the
specimen and for each phase angle a colour photograph was taken of the dark-field isochnomatics close to the crack
tip on one side of the panel for 500 flashes of the strobe. A data set of 75 points was collected in each case and the
SW was found using the procedure described earlier. It is not possible to collect data from within a distance of four
times the coating thickness from the edge of the coating due to the Poisson's ratio mis-match between coating and
metal5. This automatically precludes the collection of data from too close to the crack tip where there will be three-
dimensional and non-linear effects.

Fi&3. Cyclic SJFs of a Dural test panel.

1.50

40

1.00
3o -C
C.)

2O
0.50

10

0.00 0
-260 -300 -240 -180 -120 -80 0
strobe phase angle

SPIE Vol. 2001 Nondestructive Inspection of Aging Aircraft (1993) / 159

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 The results are shown in graphical form in Fig.3. The SIFs have been normalised using the factor:

0 = applied stress K0=a0.J (3)

a = crack length

and the crack length, a, has been normalised with respect to the panel width w.

It was not possible to find SIFs for the lowest loads in the sine wave due to the lack of fringes in the coatings.
From the graph the maximum SW is found to occur at a phase angle of -15O. The non-dimensional value of the SW
for this crack length is in good agreement with Isida's closed-form solution6 for the SW of an equivalent centre-
cracked panel as shown in Fig.3. The graph also contains a sine wave to represent the applied load. The peak load
(38kN) coincides with Isida's solution at a phase angle of 1500 and the minimum load (2kN) occurs at 30° and -
3300. Only the interval in which the SIFs were found is shown. It is apparent that the experimental results do not
follow the expected wave form either side of the peak value. It is difficult to explain this trend without more
information concerning the SIFs at the lower loads.

3.3 Long-Term Fatigue Test

A second Dural specimen was produced to investigate how the SIFs varied over the period of a long-term tesL
The aim of this investigation was to examine if the technique could detect the presence of plasticity at the crack
which will increase as its length increases with respect to the width of the plate. Plasticity should be detected in
terms of a different photoelastic fringe pattern from the purely elastic case and also in a higher value of the SW
determined from the fringes. The latter being due to the elastic stress field experiencing an effective crack length
which is longer than the physical length.

The Dural specimen was prepared as for the first one. Coatings were applied to both sides of the panel
surrounding each end of the crack as before. The crack was allowed to propagate in increments of 5mm from a/w =
0.2 to a/w = 0.5. At each increment the SIF was found for each crack tip on both sides of the panel at the peak load
in the fatigue cycle. This involved photographing the dark-field isochromatic fringe pattern in each of the four sets of
coatings for a duration of 500 cycles.

Upon reaching the second increment, a/w = 0.25, two out of the four sets of coatings were removed and
replaced by fresh pieces. One set of coatings was renewed at each end of the crack on each side of the panel. This
process was repeated at subsequent intervals of the crack growth process; the same set of coatings being replaced
each time. Therefore, the set-up consisted of two sets of peimanent coatings, one of each face of the panel but at
opposite ends of the crack, whilst the other two sets were replaced at each scheduled increment of crack growth. It
was intended that the plasticity effects should appear in the permanent coatings whilst the straining of the non-
permanent coatings would generally be elastic.

The measured values of the non-dimensional SIFs in each case are plotted against non-dimensional crack
length, a/w, in Fig. 4. For the first crack length increment, a/w = 0.2, all the coatings were fresh and no plasticity
effects are expected. The effects of plasticity only become apparent at about a/w = 0.4, i.e. the difference between
the SIFs for the permanent and non-permanent coatings is greater than the scatter in the experimental results. For the
non-permanent coatings the SIFs are broadly in line with Isida's solution6

Figs.lb and ic show an example of the comparison between the isochromatic fringe patterns in a permanent
and non-permanent set of coatings for the increment a/w = 0.5. These are black and white reproductions of colour
images. There is a higher concentration of fringes ahead of the crack tip in the permanent coatings. The presence of
a plastic zone is indicated by the shape of the fringes at the tip.

160 / SPIE Vol. 2001 Nondestructive Inspection of Aging Aircraft (1993)

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 Fi&4. Peak load SIFs of a Dural panel undergoing a fatigue test.

1.40—

0 side 1 non-permanent
. side 1 permanent
0 0 side 2 non-permanent
1.30 • side 2 permanent
—lsida(1971) I
'I0

1__ crack length (a/w)

With the panel being coated on both sides for the duration of the test an analysis of through-thickness effects is
possible. However, at each end of the crack the coating on one side was permanent whilst on the other side it was
non-pennanent, therefore, a true comparison is not possible. Comparisons between the two sets of pennanent results
and between the two set of non-permanent results respectively appear to show differences within experimental error.

4. DISCUSSION
Inspections of ageing aircraft would be enhanced ifit were possible to deteimine the SIFs of detectable surface
cracks in a structure by attaching photoelastic coalings to the material surrounding the crack tips. The result of
investigations described in this paper have made this a more realistic possibility.

The inspection of a real crack in an aircraft component could be perfoimed using the following procedure:

(a) Detennine the position and orientation of the crack tip by an appropriate detection method. It is possible to
detect cracks using photoelastic coatings which cover the crack, but as yet this cannot be used to find the SIF.

(b) Surround the crack tip with appropriately shaped photoelastic coatings.

(c) Apply the service load and record the fringe pattern. If the loads are vibrational this will require the use of a
strobe light source as described in this paper.

(d) Deteimine the elastic SIF from the fringe pattern. With this procedure the plastic deformation at the crack-tip
is not detectable, however, the elastic value is still a very useful parameter in the application of fracture
mechanics.

SP!E Vol. 2001 Nondestructive Inspection of Aging Aircraft (1993)1 161

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 This inspection procedure was carried out on a fatigue test panel donated by the sponsor. The panel's geometry
was to similar dimensions as for the Dural specimens but details of the crack growth history were not provided.

Coatings were applied to one side of the panel stretching from one edge to the other. It was assumed that the
crack path was across the panel, i.e. perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the panel, and a gap was left between
the coatings accordingly. If this assumption was incorrect the fringe patters would show this, however, in the event it
proved to be correct. The SIF was determined using the procedure outhned in the paper for a static load sufficient to
produce a clear fringe pattern. The resulting SW was found to be within 5% of Isida's solution.

This paper has also demonstrated how the plastic zone can be detected using the method of photoelastic
coatings. A quantitive evaluation of the zone's size and shape may be possible through more detailed research.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are grateful for the financial support of British Aerospace Airbus Ltd. at Filton (U.K.), and the
technical support of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Sheffield where this research
was perfoimed.

REFERENCES
1. A.D. NURSE and E.A. PATTERSON, "Photoelastic Determination of Stress Intensity Factors for Edge
Cracks under Mixed-Mode Loading", Proc. Conf 9th hit. Conf. Experimental Mechanics, Copenhagen, 20-
24 Aug. 1990, pp948-957.

2. A.D. NURSE and E.A. PATTERSON, "Experimental Determination of Stress Intensity Factors for Cracks in
Turbine Discs", mt. J. Fatigue Fract. Engng. Mails. Structs., Vol.16, No.3, pp3 15-325, 1993.

3. A.D. NURSE and E.A. PATTERSON, "Photoelastic Coatings Applied to Cracked Plates", Proc. Conf
Technology Transfer between High Tech Engineering and Biomechanics, Ed. E.G. LITTLE, Limerick, 4-5
Sept. 1992, pp477-49O.
4. J.P. DEN HARTOG, Advanced Strength of Materials, Dover Publ. Inc., New York, 1952.

5. J.W. DALLY and I. ALFIREVICH, "Application of Birefringent Coatings to Glass-Fibre-Reinforced

Plastics", Expt. Mechs., Vol.9, pp97- 102, 1969.

6. M. ISIDA, "Effect of Width and Length on Stress Intensity Factors of Internally Cracked Plates under
Various Boundary Conditions", Irn. J. Fract. Mechs., Vol.7, No.3, pp3Ol-3l6, 1971.

162 /SPIE Vol. 2001 Nondestructive Inspection ofAgingAircraft (1993)

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