Numerical Modeling of Plasticity-Induced Fatigue Crack Growth Retardation Due to Deflection in the Near-Tip Area

Abstract

This article studies the retardation effect in plasticity-induced fatigue crack growth rate for a low-medium strength steel, due to the appearance of microdeflections in the crack path. To this end, the finite element method was used to model the crack with its kinked tip under several stress intensity factor (SIF) ranges. The results allowed a calculation (after a small number of cycles) of the fatigue crack propagation rate for the multiaxial and uniaxial fatigue configurations at the microscopic level. It was observed that the retardation effect rose with an increase in the initial kinked crack tip angle, an increase in the initial projected kinked crack tip length, and with a decrease in the SIF range.