An Experimental Investigation of the Crack Tip Stress Intensity Factors in Plates Under Cylindrical Bending

Abstract

This experimental study was undertaken to investigate the validity of the theory based on the crack tip stress intensity factors to explain the fracture of thin cracked plates subjected to static bending moments. Plexiglas sheets were used as specimens and the loading was pure cylindrical bending. The results indicate that there is in fact a critical value of the stress intensity factor at which the crack starts growing. It was found that, while in static tensile tests the crack growth was unstable, in the case of bending, the external load (here, the bending moment) which starts the crack growing is not sufficient for the complete fracture of the plate if it is maintained constant. That is, when the critical value of the stress intensity factor is reached, the crack starts growing on the tensile side of the plate whereupon the crack tip takes a triangular shape and the system again becomes stable. In order to make the crack grow further, a considerable increase in the load is required.