Crack tip shielding phenomena, whereby the "effective crack-driving force" actually experienced at the crack tip is locally reduced, are examined with reference to fatigue crack propagation behavior in metals, composites and ceramics. Sources of shielding are briefly described in terms of mechanisms relying on the production of elastically constrained zones which envelop the crack (zone shieldi...

* Corresponding author; Email: [email protected] ABSTRACT An important task in mixed-mode fracture analysis and prediction is the simulation of crack growth under mixed-mode conditions. To complete such a task, one must have (a) a computer code capable of handling the kinematics of general crack growth and determining the stress and deformation states during crack growth, and (b) a fracture crit...

A Zener±Stroh crack is formed by coalescing a dislocation pileup and therefore is a net dislocation loaded crack. In this paper, the interaction between a Zener±Stroch crack and surrounding cylindrical ®bers in a ®ber-reinforced composite material has been investigated. The crack is located in the matrix and near a ®ber, while the in ̄uence of other ®bers on the crack is considered through the t...

The problem of fatigue-crack-growth in a rotating disc at different crack orientation angles is studied by using an automated numerical technique, which calculates the stress intensity factors on the crack front through the three-dimensional finite element method. Paris law is used to develop the fatigue shape of initially semi-elliptical surface crack. Because of needs for the higher mesh dens...

Understanding the fatigue crack growth phenomenon in railheads requires a study of driving forces such as the crack tip opening and sliding displacements, under repeated rolling contact. Finite element simulations, allowing elastic-plastic deformation, and mixed-mode crack growth laws were utilized to demonstrate that the fatigue crack growth rates display a minimum after a finite amount of cra...

15. Supplementary Notes Project performed in cooperation with the Texas Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration. Project Title: Implementation of Automated Pavement Distress Rating Systems 16. Abstract This paper presents the image-processing algorithm customized for high-speed, real-time inspection of pavement cracking. In the algorithm, a pavement image is divided ...