Computational Fracture Analyses of a Compact Tension Shear (CTS) Specimen With an Inclined Crack Front

In this paper some results of 3D-finite element analyses of a modified CTS-specimen(MCTS) with an inclined crack front are presented. It will be shown, that through the inclination of the crack front, even under pure in-plane shear loading of the specimen, mixed-mode II and III loading conditions can be generated along the straight inclined crack front. Furthermore a superposition of all fracture modes I, II and III can be generated, if this MCTS-specimen is subject to an in-plane tension/shear loading. The computational fracture analysis is based on the calculation of separated energy release rates GI, GII and GIII along the crack front by the numerically highly effective modified virtual crack closure integral(MVCCI)-method and for the finite element(FE)-modeling the commercially available FE-code ANSYS is utilized.