Characterization of crack-tip field and constraint for bending specimens under large-scale yielding

Elastic-plastic crack-tip fields and constraint levels in bending specimens under large-scale yielding (LSY) are examined. The J−A2 three-term solution is modified by introducing an additional term caused by the global bending. Three different methods, i.e. two-point matching, constant A2 and elastic stress estimation method, are proposed to determine the fourth term. It is shown that the elastic stress estimation method is the simplest, yet effective, in that the fourth term can be derived from the strength theory of materials and the concept of plastic hinge, and effectively quantifies the contribution of the global bending moment on the crack-tip field. Consequently, the modified J−A2 solution, with the inclusion of the correction for global bending, does not introduce any new parameter. The two parameters remain as the loading (J and M) and the constraint level (A2). To validate the present solution, detailed finite element analyses (FEA) were conducted for a Three Point Bend (TPB) specimen with a/W=0.59 in A285 steel, and Single Edge Notched Bend (SENB) specimen subjected to pure bending with a/W=0.5 in A533B steel at different deformation levels ranging from small-scale yielding (SSY) to LSY. Results show that the modified J−A2 solution matches fairly well with the FEA results for both TPB and SENB specimens at all deformation levels considered. In addition, the fourth stress term is (a) proportional to the global bending moment and inversely proportional to the ligament length; (b) negligibly small under SSY; and (c) significantly large under LSY or fully plastic deformation. Accordingly, the present model effectively characterizes the crack-tip constraint for bending dominated specimens with or without the large influence from the global bending stress on the crack-tip field.