• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.680-689
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• 2010

The crack-tip stress fields and fracture mechanics assessment parameters for a surface crack, such as the elastic stress intensity factor or the elastic-plastic J-integral, can be affected significantly by the adjacent cracks. Such a crack interaction effect due to multiple cracks can alter the fracture mechanics assessment parameters significantly. There are many factors to be considered, for instance the relative distance between adjacent cracks, the crack shape, and the loading condition, to quantify the crack interaction effect on the fracture mechanics assessment parameters. Thus, the current assessment codes on crack interaction effects (crack combination rules), including ASME Sec. XI, BS7910, British Energy R6 and API 579-1/ASME FFS-1, provide different rules for combining multiple surface cracks into a single surface crack. The present paper investigates crack interaction effects by evaluating the elastic stress intensity factor and the elastic-plastic J-integral of adjacent in-plane surface cracks in a plate through detailed 3-dimensional elastic and elastic-plastic finite element analyses. The effects on the fracture mechanics assessment parameters of the geometric parameters, the relative distance between two cracks, and the crack shape are investigated systematically. As for the loading condition, an axial tension is considered. Based on the finite element results, the acceptability of the crack combination rules provided in the existing guidance was investigated, and the relevant recommendations on a crack interaction for in-plane surface cracks are discussed. The present results can be used to develop more concrete guidance on crack interaction effects for crack shape characterization to evaluate the integrity of defective components.

• 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.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.63-69
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• 2005

For the case that center crack is surrounded by four small cracks which are symmetrically distributed around center crack, the same values of normalized stress intensity factor of center crack according to the position of the tip of small cracks are located on the smooth curve. And the stress intensity factor according to any position of small cracks can be sufficiently obtained from this curve. The plastic zones between distributed cracks are also investigated by changing the positions of nearly small cracks. The occurrence of plastic zone due to the interaction between center crack and small cracks are analyzed by finite element method. The mechanical behavior at the vicinity of crack tips is investigated by plastic areas. The changes of plastic zones according to positions of distributed cracks are drawn schematically. The safety of materials is also analyzed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.25-32
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• 1999

This study has been performed to investigate the stress distribution around defects that behave as stress concentrators. Besides, the effect of stress interaction effects on the initiation of primary cracks were also investigated by rotary bending fatigue tests which were performed with specimens drilled micro surface defects and the stress distribution was analyzed using Finite Element Method. In addition, the stress interaction effects around defects and cracks were investigated by comparing the results of experiments and F.E.M. The results obtained are summarized as follows ; 1) Area which slip and micro cracks initiated at micro surface defects is between the maximum shear stress points and this area is over than ${\pm}30^{\circ}$ from the maximum stress point along the defect edge. 2) The stress interaction effect for the small size defect is larger than that of large size defect when the interval between them is near 3) Interval which there is no shear stress interaction effect analyzed by F.E.M. is larger than that of experimental results.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.1097-1105
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• 1997

Because of the existence of stress interaction field made by other defects and propagating cracks, the structure may be weakened. Therefore in this study, the crack behavior in the interaction field made by two different cracks is studied experimentally. In the experiment, vertical distance between two cracks and applied stress are varied to make different stress interacted field. In addition, the effect of plastic zone is used to examine crack propagation path and rate. Three types of crack propagation in the interacted field were found, and crack propagating path and rate of two cracks were significantly changed according to different applied stress as each crack propagates. And the results are attributed to the effect of the size and shape of the plastic zone.

• Journal of applied mathematics & informatics
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.59-69
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• 2001

The paper deals with the interaction between three Griffith cracks propagating under antiplane shear stress at the interface of two dissimilar infinite elastic half-spaces. The Fourier transform technique is used to reduce the elastodynamic problem to the solution of a set of integral equations which has been solved by using the finite Hilbert transform technique and Cooke’s result. The analytical expressions for the stress intensity factors at the crack tips are obtained. Numerical values of the interaction efect have been computed for and results show that interaction effects are either shielding or amplification depending on the location of each crack with respect to other and crack tip spacing. AMS Mathematics Subject Classification : 73M25.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.172-181
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• 2003

In this study, the stress intensity factor of center crack tip is calculated by the superposition method when it is surrounded by symmetrically distributed small cracks. The values of stress intensity factors of center crack tips are compared with those of the center crack tips calculated by the superposition method. These compared errors are influenced by the locations of distributed small cracks. These errors are inspected. When small cracks overlap and approach near the center crack tip, the effect of interaction caused by these cracks becomes noticeable and these errors become larger. In case of multiple distributed small cracks except this case, the stress intensity factor of the center crack tip is easily calculated by the superposition method.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.244-250
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• 1998

In this study, the stress intensity factors of center crack are analyzed when it is surrounded by symmetrically distributed small cracks. The values of stress intensity factors of the center crack are greatly influenced by the locations of distributed small cracks. When small cracks overlap or approach near the tip of a center crack, the effect of interaction arisen by these cracks becomes noticeable. In case of multiple distributed small cracks, the stress intensity factor of a center crack is found to be efficiently determined by the superposition method.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.373-380
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• 2000

Finite element analysis is performed on the subsurface crack propagation in brittle materials due to sliding contact. The sliding contact is simulated by a rigid asperity moving across the surface of an elastic half-surface containing single and multiple cracks. The single crack, coplanar cracks and parallel cracks are modeled to investigate the interaction effects on the crack growth in contact fatigue. The crack location is fixed and the friction coefficients between asperity and half-space are varied to analyze the effect of surface friction on stress intensity factor for horizontal cracks. The crack propagation direction is predicted based on the maximum range of shear and tensile stress intensity factors. With a coplanar crack, the stress intensity factor was increased. However, with a parallel crack, the stress intensity factor was decreased. These results indicate that the interaction of a coplanar crack increases fatigue crack propagation, whereas that of a parallel crack decreases it.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.316-326
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• 2004

The $40\%$ of wall criterion, which is generally used for the plugging of steam generator tubes, is applied only to a single crack. In a previous study, a total number of 9 failure models were proposed to estimate the local failure of the ligament between cracks, and the optimum coalescence model of multiple collinear cracks was determined among these models. It is, however known that parallel axial cracks are more frequently detected than collinear axial cracks during an in-service inspection. The objective of this study is to determine the plastic collapse model that can be applied to steam generator tubes containing two parallel axial through-wall cracks. Three previously proposed local failure models were selected as the candidates. Subsequently, the interaction effects between two adjacent cracks were evaluated to screen them. Plastic collapse tests for the plate with two parallel through-wall cracks and finite element analyses were performed to determine the optimum plastic collapse model. By comparing the test results with the prediction results obtained from the candidate models, a COD base model was selected as an optimum model.