Crack face sliding displacement (CSD) as an input in exact GLOB-LOC expressions for in-plane elastic constants of symmetric damaged laminates

The crack opening and crack sliding displacements of both faces of an intralaminar crack are the main parameters defining the significance of each crack in laminate stiffness degradation, according to the previously published GLOB-LOC approach for symmetric laminates with an arbitrary number of cracks in all plies. In the exact stiffness expressions of this approach, the crack density is always multiplied by crack opening displacement and crack sliding displacement. The dependence of crack opening displacement on geometrical and elastic parameters of adjacent plies was studied previously and described by simple fitting functions. The crack sliding displacement has been analyzed for low-crack densities only and the proposed finite element method-based fitting expressions are oversimplified not including the out-of-plane ply stiffness effects. Based on finite element method analysis, more accurate expressions for so-called non-interactive cracks are suggested in the presented article. For the first time the shear stress perturbations are analyzed and interaction functions are presented with the feature that they always lead to slightly conservative predictions. The presented simple fitting functions, when used in the GLOB-LOC model, give predictions that are in a good agreement with finite element method results and with experimental data for laminates with damaged off-axis plies in cases when crack face sliding is of importance. The significance of including crack sliding displacement in stiffness predictions is demonstrated.

Effect of Residual Stress Field in Front of the Slant Precrack Tip on Bent Fatigue Crack Propagation

Fatigue crack bending and propagation behaviors were studied under mixed-mode conditions using annealed and fatigue slant precracks. The bent fatigue crack initiated from the fatigue slant precrack propagated under mixed-mode conditions with mode II stress intensity factor evaluated from the crack sliding displacement measured along the crack. On the other hand, bent fatigue cracks propagated under the mode I condition for an annealed slant precrack specimen. The forces which suppress the crack opening/sliding were calculated along the slant precrack and the bent crack by FEM (Finite Element Method) analysis. As a result, the crack opening suppress forces were generated by the compressive residual stress around the fatigue slant precrack, while the forces which promote the crack sliding were caused by the residual stress field in front of the fatigue slant precrack.