MECH3300 : Fracture Mechanics - lecture 6

Dr Rowan Truss
(Bldg 45-rm 215, R.Truss@uq.edu.au)

Objectives
Students should understand: Design and Materials Selection issues:

Use of basic fracture mechanics equation Yield before fracture Leak before break Wiebull modulus

Statistical nature of brittle fracture

Case study Comet aircraft crashes

Basic fracture mechanics equation

K1c = Y a combines three quantities, namely; a material property, K1c the applied tensile stress or design stress, an allowable flaw size, a ( Note: Y may also be a function of a).

Yield before brittle fracture

K1c = Y a The stress required for a crack of size ac to propagate is = K1c / (Y ac) We want brittle failure stress < yield stress, y , so in the limit set = y Rearranging ac = (1/Y2) (K1c /y)2 Safest vessel is when allowable flaw size is largest so maximise (K1c /y)2

Leak before break

K1c = Y a For leak before break the critical flaw size needs to be t, the thickness of the vessel t = (1/ Y2) (K1c /y)2 Thickness is also set so that vessel will not yield for spherical vessel, radius, r, = pr/2t p = (2/ r Y2) (K1c /y)2 Maximise K1c 2/y for highest failure pressure

M. F. Ashby, Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, Butterworth Hinemann, Oxford, 1999

Statistics of brittle failure

K1c = Y a

K1c is a material parameter ie constant Brittle failure stress thus depends on flaws size Real materials have a distribution of flaw sizes Brittle failure stress also has distribution Measure of breadth of distribution given by Wiebull modulus

Wiebull Modulus
fraction of samples of volume V0 that do not fracture under a tensile load

Ps(V0) = exp[-(/0)m]
0 is stress at which survival probability is 1/e

m is Wiebull Modulus

Comet aircraft failures

Ref: D. R. H. Jones, Engineering Materials 3 Materials Failure Analysis Case Studies and Design Implications, Pergamon Press Oxford, 1993 ch13

One of first pressurised cabin commercial aircraft Built by de Havillands, UK for BOAC in 1952 4x turbo-jet engines Cruising altitude of 35,000 ft All-up weight of 49 tonnes

Comet aircraft failures

2nd May 1953 Plane crashed in tropical thunderstorm in Calcutta structural failure of the aircraft 10 January, 1954 Rome- London flight crashed in good weather killed 29 passengers and 6 crew 8 April, 1954 Rome-Cairo flight crashed again in reasonable weather

Material data
Aluminium alloy DTD546 Obsolete modern equivalent 2000 series alloys
3.5-4.8 wt% Cu < 1.0 wt% Fe <1.5 wt% Si <0.6 wt% Mg < 1.2 wt% Mn < 0.3 wt% Ti Balance Al

min y 325 MPa uts 418 MPa, actual for failed material 450MPa

dimensions
Fuselage 3.7m diameter 33m long Thickness of Al sheet 0.91mm Pressurised to 0.057MPa What size crack would cause failure?

Estimate K1c

Critical flaw size

For pressure, p, in cylindrical pressure vessel Hoop stress = pr/t = 0.057*1.85/(0.91x10-3) = 116MPa For plane strain, assume K1c = 30 MPam1/2 ac = 1/ (K1c/y)2 = 21mm

Plane strain?
Require t 2.5 (K1c/y)2 = 2.5 (30/350)2 = 18mm

Not plane strain, need plane stress analysis

Plane stress Kc depends on thickness assume same relationship as known Al alloy 7075-T6

Critical flaw size plane stress

= 2.6 x plane strain value = ~x80 MPam1/2 For plane stress ac = 1/ (K1c/y)2 = ~150mm Kc

Validity of using LEFM in plane stress

Need crack size , a 50 rp , plastic zone size

Plastic zone size in plane stress rp = 1/2p (K1c/y)2 = 8.3 mm So probably not valid But error low for crack in infinite sheet