Application of EWK and Modified X-W Fracture Models to Load-Bearing Lug Joints

Abstract

In the aeronautic field, ductile structure usually undergoes local fracture under complicated service loading conditions, which may triggers collapse of a structure. As a result, it is very essential to study the mechanism of fracture initiation and propagation of ductile materials especially under complex stress states. In this paper, a comparative study of fracture patterns of a load-bearing lug joints structure under several loading conditions with two ductile fracture models is performed by using the commercial finite element platform ABAQUS/ Explicit through a user material subroutine VUMAT. The numerical comparisons using two ductile fracture models in predicting failure of load-bearing lug joints structure shows that modified X-W fracture model agrees well with the experimental observation under complex stress states.