Temperature rise in a viscoplastic material during dynamic crack growth

Dynamic steady-state crack growth has been analyzed under mode I plane stress, small-scale yielding conditions using a finite element procedure. A Perzyna type viscoplastic constitutive equation has been employed in this analysis. The viscoplastic work rate is converted into heat input and the temperature distribution is determined by solving the governing conduction/convection equation also by a finite element method. The stream-line upwinding Petrov--Galerkin formulation has been employed for this purpose because of the high Peclet number that results in such a type of analysis. The effect of strain rate sensitivity and crack speed on the temperature distribution near the crack tip is examined. Materials mentioned are Ti--6Al--4V and 4340 steel. Graphs. 33 ref.--AA