Interaction Effect Evaluation of Multiple Through Cracks in Ductile Fracture Process

Study on the interaction effect of multiple cracks on the collapse load during ductile crack growth processes is important for the integrity evaluation of nuclear structure. The ductile fracture processes are well studied numerically by using Gurson’s constitutive equation and taking into account of void growth during plastic deformation. In this study, two through cracks are assumed to exist in a flat plate in tension and the interaction between two cracks is studied. The initial crack length, horizontal distance and vertical distance between two cracks are changed systematically. The interaction behavior between two cracks is studied precisely. Criteria to evaluate maximum load in the ductile fracture processes are discussed. The present study found H/l criteria can estimate the maximum load reasonably, and also the consideration of the effect of the horizontal distance between two cracks in H/l criteria may improve its estimation more reasonable. The effects on maximum load by changing the horizontal distance between two cracks are studied.