Analysis of fatigue crack growth and residual stress

The first part of this dissertation employs a three-dimensional elastic-plastic finite element model of straight-through crack growth to correlate four well-known methodologies characterizing fatigue crack closure. The compliance offset and the adjusted compliance ratio (ACR) are experimental methods, whereas the node displacement and the contact stress methods are numerical approaches. Evolutions of crack closure from all four methodologies are compared for a numerical model of a single edge-cracked tension specimen subjected to different levels of constant amplitude cyclic loading.;In the second part, a detailed two dimensional stress analysis is conducted for a single pin-joint under plane stress conditions. This study investigates the influence of material nonlinearity, friction, and pre-existing residual stresses from cold-working process on the local radial and hoop stress levels around the pin-loaded hole.;Next, the beneficial influence of cold working process is quantified by computing the Mode I stress intensity factors KI for a single radial crack emanating from a side of a loaded hole. Two different loading configurations are considered: (a) an open hole in tension, (b) a pin-loaded hole. The stress intensity factors are computed using the J integral solutions and the weight functions specific to the crack configuration. The reductions in KI values due to different levels of cold-working process are presented for a range of crack lengths.;The final part of the research involves a numerical investigation of an on-line crack compliance technique that is used for experimental measurements of residual stress fields along the crack growth path. A finite rectangular sheet is considered with a single crack emanating from a side of a central hole. The residual stress field is introduced around the hole by cold-working simulation. As part of validation, the normalized residual stress intensity factors computed using the on-line crack compliance technique are compared with those from the J-integral approach for the case of elastic crack growth. The influence of crack tip plasticity on the performance of the on-line crack compliance technique is studied by comparing the solutions of the elastic and elastic-plastic crack growth models.