• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.66 no.4
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• pp.453-463
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• 2018

Three points bending flexural test was modelled numerically to study the crack propagation in the pre-cracked beams. The pre-existing double internal cracks inside the beam models were considered to investigate the crack propagation and coalescence paths within the modelled samples. Notch configuration effects on the failure stress were considered too. This numerical analysis shown that the propagation of wing cracks emanating from the tips of the pre-existing internal cracks caused the final breaking of beams specimens. It was also shown that when two notches were overlapped, they both mobilized in the failure process and the failure stress was decreased when the notches were located in centre line. However, the failure stress was increased by increasing the bridge area angle. Finally, it was shown that in all cases, there were good agreements between the discrete element method results and, the other numerical and experimental results. In this research, it is tried to improve the understanding of the crack propagation and crack coalescence phenomena in brittle materials which is of paramount importance in the stability analyses of rock and concrete structures, such as the underground openings, rock slopes and tunnel construction.

• Composites Research
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.15-22
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• 2008

Reversed plane bending fatigue tests were conducted on SiC particle aluminum composite. The initiation and growth behaviors of small surface fatigue cracks were continuously monitored by the replica technique and investigated in detail. The fatigue life of MMC is shorter than that of matrix because there exists interface debonding of SiC particles and matrix on the whole face of the notch part in the casting metal matrix composite(MMC). The coalescence of micro-cracks was observed in the tests conducted at high stress levels. Due to the coalescence, a higher crack growth rate of small cracks rather than those of long cracks was recognized in da/dn-$K_{max}$ relationship.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.66 no.3
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• pp.343-351
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• 2018

Brazilian disc test is one of the most widely used experiments in the literature of geo-mechanics. In this work, the pre-holed concrete Brazilian disc specimens are numerically modelled by a two-dimensional discrete element approach. The cracks initiations, propagations and coalescences in the numerically simulated Brazilian discs (each containing a single cylindrical hole and or multiple holes) are studied. The pre-holed Brazilian discs are numerically tested under Brazilian test conditions. The single-holed Brazilian discs with different ratios of the diameter of the holes to that of the disc radius are modelled first. The breakage load in the ring type disc specimens containing an internal hole with varying diameters is measured and the crack propagation mechanism around the wall of the ring is investigated. The crack propagation and coalescence mechanisms are also studied for the case of multi-holes' concrete Brazilian discs. The numerical and experimental results show that the breaking mechanism of the pre-holed disc specimens is mainly due to the initiation of the radially induced tensile cracks which are growth from the surface of the central hole. Radially cracks propagated toward the direction of diametrical loading. It has been observed that for the case of disc specimens with multiple holes under diametrical compressive loading, the breaking process of the modelled specimens may occur due to the simultaneous cracks propagation and cracks coalescence phenomena. These results also show that as the hole diameter and the number of the holes increases both the failure stress and the crack initiation stress decreases. The experimental results already exist in the literature are quit agree with the proposed numerical simulation results which validates this simulation procedure.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.30 no.12 s.255
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• pp.1573-1580
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• 2006

In this study, fatigue tests were carried out under push-pull loading condition using spheroidal graphite cast iron in order to clarify the internal fatigue fracture mechanism in an extremely low cycle fatigue regime. It is found that a successive observation of internal fatigue damage it is found that the fracture processes go through three stages, that is, the generation, growth and coalescence of microvoids originated from debonding of graphite-matrix interface. It is also found that the crack which is initiated from the void propagates by coalescence of neighboring cracks and the fatigue crack growth rate can be expressed in form of the Manson-Coffin rule type. In this paper, quantitative analyses of fatigue properties for realization of simulation about fatigue life evaluation are also presented.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2002.03a
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• pp.173-180
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• 2002

The specimens with three discontinuities have been tested in uniaxial compression. The geometry of discontinuities is changed by three different parameters: flaw inclination angle, continuity, and spacing. From the tips of the discontinuities wing and secondary cracks are observed. Wing cracks initially propagate curvilinear direction and follow loading direction after some distance from the tip of the discontinuities. Two different types of secondary cracks have been observed from the study: quasi-coplanar secondary cracks and oblique secondary cracks. From the test nine different types of coalescence are observed and they show a correlation with flaw angle and ligament angle. It is attempted to simulate the observed results by using FROCK(Fractured ROCK). FROCK is a code based on the hybridized DDM(Displacement Discontinuities Method) . It is shown that FROCK has quite potential of modeling of rock fracture processes.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.68 no.4
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• pp.497-505
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• 2018

Three points bending flexural test was modeled numerically to study the crack propagation in the pre-cracked beams. The pre-existing edge cracks in the beam models were considered to investigate the crack propagation and coalescence paths within the modeled samples. The effects of particle size on the single edge-notched round bar in bending test were considered too. The results show that Failure pattern is constant by increasing the ball diameter. Tensile cracks are dominant mode of failure. These crack initiates from notch tip, propagate parallel to loading axis and coalescence with upper model boundary. Number of cracks increase by decreasing the ball diameter. Also, tensile fracture toughness was decreased with increasing the particle size. In the present study, the influences of particles sizes on the cracks propagations and coalescences in the brittle materials such as rocks and concretes are numerically analyzed by using a three dimensional particle flow code (PFC3D). These analyses improve the understanding of the stability of rocks and concretes structures such as rock slopes, tunnel constructions and underground openings.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.663-673
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• 2018

In this study, the effect of particle size on the cracks propagation and coalescence or cracking pattern of the edge notched disc specimens are investigated. Firstly, calibration of PFC3D was performed using Brazilian experimental test output. Then micro parameters were used to build edge notched disc specimen. The horizontal wall of the assembly is let to move downward with a standard low speed of 0.016 m/s. The numerical results show that the tensile cracks are dominant failure pattern for the modeled discs. These tensile cracks initiate from the pre-existing notch tip and propagate parallel to the loading direction then interact with the upper boundary of the modeled specimen. As the size of the balls (ball diameter) decrease the number of tensile cracks increase. The tensile fracture toughness of the samples also decreases as the particle size increases. Understanding the crack propagation and crack coalescence phenomena in brittle materials such as concretes and rocks is of paramount importance in the stability analyses for engineering structures such as rock slopes, underground structures and tunneling.

• Journal of the korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.65-75
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• 1992

An analytical scheme for predicting the crack aspect pattern of materials which contain twin surface cracks was developed. Fatigue tests were performed on twin surface cracked PMMA plate specimens to obtain the interaction factor accounting for the interference effect of adjacent cracks. Here, the interaction factor is defined as the ratio of the stress intensity factor for twin surface cracks to that for a single surface crack. From the analysis of the fatigue test result, the interaction factor was presented as the ninth-order polynomial expression having a function of dimensionless crack spacing ratio. Then the polynomial expression was incorporated into the prediction program of the crack aspect pattern for twin surface cracked materials. And, the interaction effect and the coalescence condition of adjacent cracks were simplified in the newly developed prediction scheme of the crack aspect pattern. The predicted crack growth pattern using the prediction scheme was compared with test data from PMMA specimen. The predicted pattern agreed well with the test data.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 1997.04a
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• pp.521-527
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• 1997

Irregular shapes and growth behavior of surface micro-crack showed very complex and nonlinear propeties and many investigators have performed theoretical analysesand experiments on them to characterize fatigue strength. They had difficulties in estimating fatigue life due to random distribution, growth and coalescence of surface micro-cracks. The straightness of crack growth along intergranular and transgranular was prevented from irregular microstructure and precipitates. Euclid geometry can't quantify shape of surface micro-crack but ftractal geometry can. Therefore, it is suggested that average fractal dimension of surface micro-cracks is able to estimate fatigue life but fractal dimension of maximum surface micro-crack is not in Al 2024-T3 alloy.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.65-73
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• 2004

Fatigue crack growth from surface defects is one of the most important subjects for the evaluation and the assurance of safety in pressure vessels, piping systems, LPG/LNG fuel tank and other various structures. This paper attempts to analysis some practical or general problems such as the estimation of crack growth life to penetrate the plate thickness, based on fatigue crack growth a single surface flaw and the interaction of multiple flaws. An experiment on the coalescence of multiple undercuts was carried out under cyclic tension condition as a attempt to the analysis of multiple crack problems. It is noted that the fracture strength is characterized by the analogy to that in a single crack growth.