Asymptotic stress fields near the crack tip in perfect plastic materials under mixed mode loading (plane strain conditions)

Abstract

Abstract In the paper the asymptotic stress fields in the vicinity of the crack tip in perfectly plastic Mises materials under mixed mode loading for the full range of the mode mixities are presented. This objective is engendered by the necessity of considering all the values of the mixity parameter for the full range of the mode mixities for plane strain conditions to grasp stress tensor components behaviour in the vicinity of the crack tip as the mixity parameter is changing from 0 to 1. To gain a better understanding of the stress distributions all values of the mixity parameter to within 0.1 were considered and analysed. The asymptotic solution to the statically determinate problem is obtained by the eigenfunction expansion method. Steady-state stress distributions for the full range of the mode mixities are found. The type of the mixed mode loading is controlled by the mixity parameter changing from zero for pure mode II loading to 1 for pure mode I loading. It is shown that the analytical solution is described by different relations in different sectors, the value of which is changing from 7 sectors to 5 sectors. At loadings close to pure mode II, seven sectors determine the solution whereas six and five sectors define the solution for the mixity parameter higher 0.33 and less than 0.89 and higher 0.89 respectively for plane strain conditions. The number of sectors depends on the mixity parameter. The angular stress distributions are not fully continuous and radial stresses are discontinuous for some values of the mixity parameter. It is interesting to note that the characteristic feature of the asymptotic solution obtained is the presence of a segment of values of the mixity parameter for which the solution does not depend on the mixity parameter (the solution does not depend on the mixity parameter for the mixity parameter from 0.89 to 1 and the solution coincides with the solution for mode I crack in perfect plastic materials for plane strain conditions). Thus, the salient point of the study is that the asymptotic solution is described by the same formulae for all values of the mixity parameter from 0.89 to 1 for plane strain.