Assessment of the Engineering Approach for the Evaluation of C-Shaped Specimens

Abstract

A baseline study has been carried out to assess the accuracy of the engineering approach for J -integral determination when applied to various standard specimens. Detailed finite element calculations were used to assess the accuracy of this approach. Although certain discrepancies were found when comparing the approximated functions obtained in this work to those in previous work, the error trends are similar and consistent throughout the analysis. Then, the engineering approach outlined in the baseline study is applied to the 2-D plane stress problem of a C-shaped specimen subjected to tension. Derivation of limit-load, fully plastic solutions and elastic-plastic estimation formulas are given in detail. Detailed comparisons between results from estimation solutions and finite element calculations are presented.