A sheet of glass measuring 2 m by 200 mm by 2 mm contains a central slit parallel to the 200 mm side.

The sheet is restrained at one end and loaded in tension with a mass of 500 kg. What is the maximum allowable length of slit before fracture occurs? Assume the following material property values: E = 60 GPa, surface energy is 0.5 J/m , Poisson's ratio = 0.25 and the fracture stress of sound glass is 170 MPa.
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Answer: 0.254 mm

This is a simple substitution into the Griffiths equation, i.e.:

where, to get the fracture stress in MPa (the standard SI engineering unit), the critical strain energy release rate is in N/m, 2 2 6 E is in N/m , and a is in m. This provides an answer in N/m (Pa), which needs to be divided by 10 . Thus:

In this calculation ,we have converted from the applied mass to a load using the gravitational constant g and the area of the plate (calculating the area as though the crack is not there, because stress intensity factors are defined on the basis of nominal stress in the absence of a crack). The last thing to be done is to realise that this is a central crack in a plate and the full slit length is then, by definition 2a. Thus the maximum length of slit which can be supported is 0.254 mm. As the applied stress is only 12.26 MPa, this indicates how critical even relatively small defects are in brittle materials, as this value of applied stress can be compared with the fracture stress of sound (uncracked) glass of 170 MPa. This illustration is the purpose of the apparently superfluous information!

Q.2 Solution (Problem 2)

If the fracture stress of a large sheet of maraging steel , which contains a central crack of length 40 mm, is 480 MPa, calculate the fracture stress of a similar sheet containing a crack of length 100 mm.

Answer: 304 MPa

This is, again, simple subsitution into the Griffith equation, and we do not need material constants because we have enough information to set up two equations with two unknowns. We can then eliminate the material constants and solve for the relevant fracture stress. Recalling that fracture stress is given by:

We can substitute in the given information to get:

Q.3Solution (Problem 3)
This question should take about 10 minutes to complete. It is an introductory level question. A thin sheet of maraging steel has a tensile strength of 1950 MPa. Calculate the percentage reduction in strength due to the presence of a crack in the sheet, which is 4 mm long and orientated perpendicular to the stressed direction. For this steel, E can be taken as 200 GPa, the energy of fracture surface as 2 J/m , and the work of plastic deformation of 4 2 each crack tip is 2x10 J/m .
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Answer: 59%

The Griffith formula can be extended to cover fracture of ductile structural materials through the inclusion of a plastic work term for each crack tip. One has to make an ssumption here about whether the crack is a central through-thickness crack or an edge crack - let us take it to be a central crack. We also need to assume either plane stress or plane strain, but as we have been told that the steel sheet is 'thin', let us assume plane stress conditions. We need to modify the critical strain energy release rate term GC to take account of the two contributions to fracture toughness - surface energy and plastic work, hence:

Q.4Solution (Problem 4)

A rectangular perspex plate 600 mm by 300 mm by 6 mm thick is scribed into two equal squares by a knife, leaving a uniform cut of depth 0.3 mm. What is the bending moment required to break the plate if the perspex has a work to fracture of 500 J/m ? Note that E = 2.5 GPa for perspex.
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Answer: 59.2 Nm

We have not been provided with a value for Poisson's ratio, so it is reasonable to assume plane stress conditions here, even though the plate is fairly thick and perspex is moderately brittle at ambient temperatures. This problem has two stages to the solution, firstly to calculate the Griffith fracture stress and, secondly, to find the bending moment that corresponds to this. Note that this technique is often used in practice to fracture brittle and quasi-brittle materials, e.g. glass, tiles and polymers. In calculating the answer to this question one has to make an assumption about the type of bend loading, i.e. whether it is three- or four-point bend. The load type impacts on calculation of nominal applied stress. In four-point bend, the stress is nominally uniform over the central portion of the plate between the two inner loading rollers. In this case, it seems reasonable to calculate the applied bending stress using the full depth of the plate before making the incision. The cut is then acting as a crack, and its effect should be taken into account in the Griffith's equation. However, in practice, if one was breaking this plate, it is likely that it would be placed with the cut at the edge of a solid surface. This loads the plate in cantilever bend, and it seems more reasonable to calculate the stress using the reduced cross-section taking account of the depth of the cut. This is what has been done in the present case. Recalling Griffith's equation as:

and noting that this is an edge crack, i.e. a = 0.3 mm, we can substitute in the values to get:

We can find the required bending moment from the simple bend equation:

Solution (Problem 5)

A Class 20 grey cast iron has an average graphite flake size about nine times as long as Class 60 type. The fracture strength of the latter is about 140 MPa. Using arguments that follow the Griffith analysis, what would you predict to be the fracture strength of the Class 20 iron?

Answer: 46.7 MPa

This is very similar to problem 2, and all that is required is to set up the two equations and eliminate the material properties, which are unknown. Recalling Griffith's equation:

we can write:

Hence the Class 20 iron has a fracture strength of some 46.7 MPa.

Solution (Problem 6)
This question should take about 15 minutes to complete. It illustrates the difference between design for 'failure' using the traditional solid mechanics approach of yield criteria, and the fracture mechanics criterion of energetically favourable fast fracture.

A cylindrical pressure vessel, with a diameter of 6.1 m and a wall thickness of 25.4 mm, underwent catastrophic fracture when the internal pressure reached 17.5 MPa. The steel of the pressure vessel had E = 210 GPa, a yield strength of 2450 MPa a value of GC = 131 kJ/m . a) Show that failure would not have been expected if the von Mises yield criterion had served for design purposes:
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b) Based on Griffith's analysis determine the size of crack that might have caused this failure, stating assumptions that you have made.

Answer: 2.2 mm

There are a couple of assumptions to be made here. The first relates to fabrication and the orientation of the fatal defect. It is likely that this vessel is made from welded plates with welds running perpendicular to both hoop and longitudinal stresses. As the hoop stress is the maximum principal stress, one should assume that the defect is perpendicular to this stress direction. Secondly, although Poisson's ratio is not given here, 25.4 mm plate is quite thick and the stress state is likely to be close to plane strain. Hence one should take a value of Poisson's ratio as 0.3 and assume plane strain conditions apply. a) We need to find all three principal stresses to substitute into von Mises criterion; using thin walled pressure vessel theory we get:

and substituting these values into the von Mises yield criterion gives:

hence meeting the criterion, thus failure would NOT have been expected on the basis of yield. b) To determine the likely critical crack size that caused failure, all we need to do is substitute into the Griffith formula:

Hence:

Solution (Problem 7)

Griffith postulated that brittle fracture occurred when the energy release rate during crack growth exceeded the rate that energy was required. His original analysis was performed for a brittle material (glass). a) Sketch curves showing how the changes in surface energy required, and potential energy released, as a crack extends. b) Sketch the changes in their differentials (rates R and G) with respect to crack length extension. Label the sketches and define the parameters R and G. c) State what the critical condition is for fracture, in terms of R and G.

a) Griffith was concerned with the energetics of fracture, and considered the energy changes associated with incremental crack extension. For a loaded brittle body undergoing incremental crack extension, the only contributors to energy changes are the energy of the new fracture surfaces (two surfaces per crack tip) and the change in potential energy in the body. The surface energy term (S) represents energy absorbed in crack growth, while the some stored strain energy (U) is released as the crack extends (due to unloading of regions adjacent to the new fracture surfaces). Surface energy has a constant value per unit area (or unit length for a unit thickness of body) and is therefore a linear function of (crack length), while the stored strain energy released in crack growth is a function of (crack length)2, and is hence parabolic. These changes are indicated in the figure below:

b) The next step in the development of Griffith's argument was consideration of the rates of energy change with crack extension, because the critical condition corresponds to the maximum point in the total energy curve, i.e. dW/da = 0, where a = a*. For crack lengths greater than this value (under a given applied stress), the body is going to a lower energy state, which is favourable, and hence fast fracture occurs. dW/da = 0 occurs when dS/da = dU/da and the sketch below shows the energy rates, or differentials with respect to a.

R is the resistance to crack growth (= dS/da) and G is the strain energy release rate (= dU/da). c) When fracture occurs, R = G and we can define Gcrit as the critical value of strain energy release, and equate this to R. Hence Gcrit represents the fracture toughness of the material.

Solution (Problem 8)

Grinding wheels are fabricated, typically, from alumina powder, which is compacted and sintered at high temperature and pressure. The powder is sieved before compacting to remove impurities which may later act as defects in the grinding wheel. Hence residual impurities are related in size to the sieve mesh dimension. One particular type of alumina wheel has a density of 3800 kg/m , a bore diameter of 140 mm and an outer diameter of 1.0 m. It spins at 3000 rpm. The maximum stress in the wheel is given by:
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Calculate the allowable size of the sieve mesh if the wheel is to have a factor of safety of two on critical defect size when operating at 3000 rpm. Note that, for alumina, the fracture toughness R = 0.10 kJ/m and E = 371 GPa.You may assume plane strain conditions.
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Answer: 1.1 mm

All we need to do is find the peak stress in the wheel and determine what type of crack will be critical. The importance of crack type arises because the Griffith equation will yield a value for ac, while one has to consider that embedded cracks are defined in terms of 2a and surface cracks in terms of a. Thus if the mesh was sized for embedded cracks, and such a defect occurred at the surface, it would immediately cause fracture. Hence the sieve is sized on the basis of surface defects being critical.

Using the Griffith equation for plane strain:

Applying the factor of safety of 2 to crack size means that the sieve mesh must be no bigger than 1.1 mm in dimension.

Problem 1 This question is designed to illustrate the difference between the accurate solution for crack tip stresses, and the approximate solution (using only the first term in the expression, which contains the singularity) on which the stress intensity factor, K, is based. It should take about 15 minutes to complete.

For a through-thickness crack in an infinite plate, the tensile stress distribution ahead of the crack tip is accurately described by the equation:

where x is distance along the crack from its centre-line, as shown in the diagram.

In terms of the stress intensity factor, the stress very near to the crack tip can be approximated as: where r is distance ahead of the crack tip. What is the difference between the stress predictions of these two equations at a distance r = 0.02a ahead of the crack tip?

Solution
This question is designed to illustrate the difference between the accurate solution for crack tip stresses, and the approximate solution (using only the first term in the expression, which contains the singularity) on which the stress intensity factor, K, is based. It should take about 15 minutes to complete.

For a through-thickness crack in an infinite plate, the tensile stress distribution ahead of the crack tip is accurately described by the equation:

where x is distance along the crack from its centre-line, as shown in the diagram below.

In terms of the stress intensity factor, the stress very near to the crack tip can be approximated as:

where r is distance ahead of the crack tip. What is the difference between the stress predictions of these two equations at a distance r = 0.02a ahead of the crack tip?

Answer: 1.5%

To solve this problem, all we need do is substitute into the first equation with x = 1.02a, i.e. x = a + r;

and then substitute r = 0.02a into the approximate K-based solution.

This represents a difference of 1.5%.