Single-Course English 5 ECTS

Fracture mechanics

Overall Course Objectives

To give thorough insight into the mechanics of materials under both monotonic and cyclic loading, and to enable the student of using modern principles for dimensioning structures, while accounting for fracture in both homogeneous materials and composites.

Use stress-functions to solve plane elastic problems.
Determine stress intensity factors for cracks.
Use linear elastic fracture mechanics (both stress and energy criteria) to predict crack initiation and growth in brittle materials.
Estimate the size of plastic zones at crack tips.
Establish the applicability of linear elastic fracture mechanics for a given problem.
Calculate the J-integral and crack opening displacement in elastic-plastic materials and use these to determine critical loads with respect to crack growth.
Determine the direction of crack propagation.
Determine critical load under fully plastic conditions
Analyze crack growth under cyclic loading.

Stress functions (Airy’s and Westergaard’s), stress concentrations, stress singularities at crack tips, linear-elastic fracture mechanics, energy methods, plasticity at crack tips, the J-integral, the HRR-field, cohesive zone modeling, criteria for the direction of crack extension, fatigue during cyclic loading, Paris law.

41502/41534, Knowledge of beam theory as well as theory of elasticity including transformation of stresses and strains

Lectures and problem solving