Fracture Mechanics (AE ZG614 / DE ZG514)

BITS Pilani VIKAS CHAUDHARI

K K Birla Goa Campus
FRACTURE MECHANICS
Slide # 2

Chapter- 1
BACKGROUND

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KINDS OF FAILURE
Slide # 3

DUCTILE FRACTURE BRITTLE FRACTURE

FLAT FRACTURE
CUP AND
CONE
FRACTURE

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WHY STRUCTURES FAIL?
Slide # 4

TYPE-1 - Negligence during construction or operation of the structure

For example – 1) Titanic Ship
2) Kurdistan oil tanker in 1979 in north Atlantic
TYPE-2 - Application of a new design or material, which produces unexpected
results
For example – 1) Liberty ships
COMBINATION OF TYPE-1 & TYPE-2
For example – 1) Challenger space shuttle (28 January, 1986), O-ring seal in one of
the main boosters did not respond in cold weather
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 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Slide # 5

• Pharaohs of ancient Egypt, Caesars of Rome

• Knowledge of mechanics was limited prior to

the time of Newton

• Amazing structures even choice of material was

limited for example, timber, brick and mortar

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EARLY RESEARCH
Slide # 6
σ

• Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

• Inglis in 1913 gave the stress distribution
relation around elliptical hole
A 2b
2𝑎
σ𝐴 = σ (1 + )
𝑏 2a
• Griffith 1920 – Predicted strength of material
in presence of crack

σ
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SPECTACULAR FAILURES
Slide # 7

CASE STUDIES-

1) Boston molasses disaster

2) Liberty ship failure

3) The comet disaster

4) Aloha airlines flight fuselage failure

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BOSTON MOLASSES DISASTER Slide # 8

• Without warning in January 1919, molasses surged over Boston

• 2.3 million gallon Boston molasses tank was only 3 years old
• Tank was 50 feet high and 90 feet in diameter
• Thunderous cracking sound
• 14000 tons of molasses cause havoc
• Molasses speed was 40-60 Km/hr
• It took more than six months to clean up the city
• However the smell remained for decades
• Molasses continued to creep out of the ground and cracks on the side walk for 30
years
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Investigations
Slide # 9

• The tank was made up of 15mm thick plate

• It was painted with brown colour which made difficult to see the leaking of
molasses however in modern world tank should pass through LBB (Leak before
break) criteria
• Possible cause of failure was identified as sudden change in temperature from
-17 degree Celsius previous day to 4.5 degree Celsius on the day of disaster
(Thermal shock precipitated)
CONCLUSION- Design was found to be inadequate to withstand the pressure
created by expanding molasses (because of fermentation) and factor of safety
used was considered to be low
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 LIBERTY SHIP FAILURE
Slide # 10

• 2700 Liberty ships were built up in 1939 to 1945

• Over 1000 ships failed out of which 200 failed significant (broke into two)
• Construction of ship was carried out by welding which has several advantages –
 Significant weight reduction
 Faster process
 Economical compared to riveting process
• Welding technology was not developed like today
• Designers were not aware of welding defects
• Water temperature was 5 degree Celsius
• Ductile material become brittle at low temperature
• First half of 20th century, the ductile to brittle transition temperature was 10
degree Celsius and now a days it is -4 degree Celsius
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LIBERTY SHIP FAILURE
Slide # 11

Temperature was 8 degree Celsius

lower compared to heavy sea
154
No. of ships failed

23 Failure rate of welded ships was

statistically astronomical in the
20
North Atlantic because of cold
conditions compared to South
Pacific

Heavy Moderate Calm

Sea conditions

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 THE COMET DISASTER Slide # 12

• De Havilland comet was world’s first jetliner

• It had four turbojet engines buried in the wings, pressurised fuselage and
large square windows
• Flight was smooth and quite at high altitude compared to propeller flights
• 1952 – Comet carried 28000 passengers covering total 104 million miles
• By 1953 – de Havilland comet received 50 comet orders from different
airlines and several in pipeline
• After serving a year, accidents began
• In 1953, first two accidents occurred during take off

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 THE COMET DISASTER Slide # 13

• In first accident, no causalities were there and pilot was blamed for it
• In second accident, unfortunately no one was survived and it appeared to be a
design flaw and modification were done to the wings that allowed a greater lift at
low speed
• The third accident occurred as the comet crashed on take off from Calcutta in
India
• In spite of these three accidents, public confidence was in place until January
10, 1954
• On 10 January, 1954 comet took off from Rome to London. It climbed 26000
feet and supposed to go up to 36000 feet when it plunged into the sea
• Witnesses in Island of Elba in Italy saw the aircraft fall into the sea flame and all
passengers including 6 crew members were killed
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Investigation and comet water tank test
Slide # 14

• Around 70% wreckage recovered from ocean and reconstructed the aircraft
• After putting all debris together, it was found that the cabin itself was failed
because of extreme decompression of the cabin
• The final conclusion was that tests done prior were inadequate and flexing
effect was not considered

Comet water tank test

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ALOHA AIRLINES FLIGHT FUSELAGE
FAILURE Slide # 15

• Aloha Airlines Flight 243 was a flight between Hilo and Honolulu in Hawaii
• On April 28, 1988, a Boeing 737 serving flight suffered extensive damage after an
explosive decompression in flight, but was able to land safely in spite of fuselage
failure mid-air
• There was one fatality (of one of the flight attendant) and another 65 passengers
and crew were injured
• It may be noted that the other three failures discussed in this chapter: Boston
Molasses tank failure, the Liberty Ships failure, Comet disaster, all occurred after
the structure had been in service for the first few years.
• But, in the case of the Aloha airlines fuselage failure, the failure occurred after the
structure had been in service for 19 years whereas the intended design life was 20
years
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ALOHA AIRLINES FLIGHT FUSELAGE
FAILURE Slide # 16

• Following the investigation, it was concluded that

widespread corrosion was the main cause.
• The disaster marked a turning point in the history of aircraft
corrosion
• At the early days of the jet, little or no attention was paid to
corrosion and corrosion control
• Only the more recent designs like Boeing 777 and later
version of 737 have incorporated significant improvements
in corrosion prevention and control in design and
manufacturing.

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LESSONS LEARNED THROUGH
SPECTACULAR FAILURES Slide # 17

• Boston molasses tank failure: The failure brought out the importance of
structural health monitoring. The tank was painted brown and hence no visual
inspection was possible on any leak of molasses which is also brown.
.

• Liberty ship failure: The disaster brought out the importance of temperature
effect on fracture toughness and marked the birth of fracture mechanics.
• Comet disaster: The failure highlighted that cracks could occur in stress
concentration zones and grow in service due to fatigue loading causing failure.
The failure also highlighted the importance of proper simulation of service loads
during testing. It may be noted that flexing of wings had been neglected during
the testing.
• Aloha Airlines fuselage failure: The failure brought out the importance of stress
corrosion cracking
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SUMMARY FROM THE CASE STUDIES
Slide # 18

• In all the failures, the structure in concern got separated without much
warning
• No visible plastic deformation was observed
• Structure made of ductile materials failed in a brittle fashion
• The fracture that triggered a brittle failure were
Presence of triaxial state of stress due to inherent flaw in the material
Low temperature or ageing due to corrosion
Growth of crack to critical levels due to fatigues loading
Rapid rate of loading such as decompression or thermal shock
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 FRACTURE, A BANE OR BOON?
Slide # 19

• Failure of a structure in service due to fracture needs to be

avoided/prevented
• However, fracture as such is not a bane as many useful aspects of human
living depends on fracture
• Grinding of food grains depend on fracture and in the medicinal world, better
absorption of the medicine is achieved by grind it into fine particles
• Laying of roads in mountains, digging up tunnels, demolishing old buildings,
etc. require knowledge of fracture to effectively and selectively remove
materials
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 COMMON APPLICATIONS OF
FRACTURE Slide # 20

• A sheet of paper can be easily separated in a

piece by tearing action
• If a thick bar stock is to be cut into two then
usually, a cut is made on one side and then it is
supported as shown
• Top surface then hit by a hammer due to which
crack propagates and eventually separates the bar
into two pieces
• A notch is made first to cut a tree or stick
• People use these practices without having
knowledge of fracture mechanics but by
experience
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COMMON APPLICATIONS OF
FRACTURE PREVENTION Slide # 21

• Cables made of several strands are used in many engineering applications. If

due to material defect one of the strands fail, the crack will not propagate but
get arrested. Note that the factor of safety used in cable car is of the order 10
• Riveted joints used in many bridges, ships and boilers provide in built safety
against crack propagation
• Cello tape often used to arrest the crack in book or notebooks
• Good swords were made by folding a thin metal sheet at the centre line several
times and then hammering it to make thin again so that if crack develops in one
of the layer then it will not move to another layer thus making sword tough
• Though in some form the role of crack and its propagation or control is
understood indirectly, a proper understanding is possible only through a
systematic scientific study
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 HISTORICAL DEVELOPEMENT
Slide # 22

1. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) – He was the first

to make a setup to measure the strength of a wire Kirsch

2. Kirsch (1898) – He gave elastic theory plate with

circular hole σ𝐴 = 3σ

3. Inglis (1913) – He gave theory for elliptical hole Inglis

2𝑎
σ𝐴 = σ (1 + )
𝑏

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HISTORICAL DEVELOPEMENT
Slide # 23

4. Griffith (1920) –
• Consider crack growth in glass and developed right idea
• He proposed conservation of energy criterion and formulated that an
existing crack will grow provided the total energy of system is
lowered by its growth
• Griffith theory was based on that crack growth is reversible process
therefore he could not give convenient parameter for crack growth
(specially for metals)

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FRACTURE MECHANICS –
INTERDICIPLINARY AREA Slide # 24

• Material science • Stress analysis and design

 fracture  Stress and strain evaluation damage
 fracture process tolerance design
 fracture toughness  Safe life design
• Non destructive testing  Fail safe design
 Crack detection  Leak before breach
 Crack growth monitoring  Multiple load path
 Design for crack arrest

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FRACTURE MECHANICS
Slide # 25

Linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) – Extension of Griffith idea by Irwin in

1948 for high strength alloy steel. It accounts only small scale yielding (SSY)
Applications – High strength steels, precipitation hardened aluminium, polymers
below glass transition temperature, ceramic and its composites.

Elastic-Plastic fracture mechanics (EPFM) – Role of plastic deformation near

crack tip is better accounted.
Applications – Low and medium strength steels, metals at high temperatures or
high strain rates polymers above glass transition temperature ceramics at high
temperatures

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LEFM & EPFM BASED ON PLASTIC
ZONE Slide # 26

Plane strain Plane stress Medium ductile Ductile material Ductile material
material with spread fully plastic
High strength material Plane plasticity
stress/strain

LEFM EPFM Plastic collapse

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TERMINOLOGY
Slide # 27

W – width of plate
1. Edge cracked plate B – thickness of plate
σ a – crack length of edge cracked plate

Behind the crack tip

Crack tip
Ahead of crack tip Crack surfaces
a

3D
σ 2D

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 Slide # 28

2. Centre cracked plate

σ
2W – width of plate
2W B – thickness of plate
2a – crack length of centre cracked plate

It has two crack tips

2a

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MODES OF LOADING
Slide # 29

 Mode -1 Loading

Displacement of crack
surfaces is perpendicular
to crack plane

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 Slide # 30

 Mode -2 Loading

Displacement of crack surfaces in

plane of crack and perpendicular
to leading edge (crack front) of
crack

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 Slide # 31

 Mode -3 Loading

Displacement of crack surfaces in

plane of crack and parallel to
leading edge (crack front) of crack

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FRACTURE MECHANICS SHOULD
ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS Slide # 32

Q1- What is the critical length of crack?

By using convenient fracture toughness parameter, critical crack length can

be determined and there are four fracture toughness parameters
• Energy Release Rate (G)
• Stress Intensity Factor (K)
• J – Integral
• Crack Tip Opening Displacement (CTOD) or Crack Opening Displacement
(COD)

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Fracture Toughness Parameters
Slide # 33

• Energy Release Rate (G)

It was proposed by Irwin in 1948 and he used ‘G’ to denote the energy
release rate to honour Griffith for his significant contribution at the early
development of fracture mechanics
‘G’ is expressed in J/m2 or N/m or N/mm
‘GI’,’GII’,’GIII’ are used for mode-I, mode-II and mode-III respectively
• Stress Intensity Factor (K)
It was proposed by Irwin and his colleague Joseph Keis and Irwin used ‘K’ to
denote stress intensity factor to honour Kies
‘K’ is expressed in 𝑀𝑃𝑎 𝑚
‘KI’,’KII’,’KIII’ are used for mode-I, mode-II and mode-III respectively
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 Fracture Toughness Parameters
Slide # 34

• J- Integral (J)
It was proposed by J. R. Rice in 1968
‘J’ is expressed in J/m2 or N/m or N/mm
‘JI’,’JII’,’JIII’ are used for mode-I, mode-II and mode-III respectively
• Crack tip opening displacement (CTOD) or crack opening displacement (COD)
It was proposed by Wells in 1961
It is also represented by symbol ‘δ’
It is expressed in ‘mm’
Fracture parameters, G and K are more suitable in LEFM whereas J and CTOD
are used in EPFM studies
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FRACTURE MECHANICS SHOULD
ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS Slide # 35

Q2- For a given length, what is the residual strength?

Q3- What is the time that would take for a crack to grow?

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FRACTURE MECHANICS SHOULD
ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS Slide # 36

Q4- How is the NDT schedule decided?

a0 – minimum crack length

ap – permissible crack length
ac – critical crack length

‘ap ’ can be determined by –

ap = (ac / N)
Where ‘N’ is factor of safety

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