Engineering

Fracr~re Mechanics Vol. 47, No. 2, pp. 281-289,

1994

Copyright 0 1994Elsevierscience Ltd.

Printed in Great Britain. All rights mewed
0013-7944/94
$6.00 + 0.00

STRESS INTENSITY FACTORS FOR AN

INCLINED SURFACE CRACK UNDER BIAXIAL
STRESS STATE
ZHAO-JING

ZENG and SHU-HO DA1

Department of Chemical Mechanical Engineering, Nanjing Institute of Chemical Technology,

5 New Model Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu 21000!4 P.R.C.
Ah&a&-A
simplified analytical model for an inclined surface crack subjected to a system of biaxial
stresses has been proposed and closed-form solutions for the mode I and mode III stress intensity factors
at the maximum depth point of an inclined surface crack have been derived. The variation patterns of
the mode I and mode III normalized stress intensity factors with angle of crack inclination and biaxial
load ratio are given quantitatively.

INTRODUCTION
engineering components and structures, such as pressure vessels, piping and
power generation equipment, the state of stress is that of biaxiality. Therefore, investigation of
the behavior of a crack under biaxial loading is very important in the reliability evaluation
of flawed structural components. For a through-wall inclined crack in an infinite plate
loaded biaxially, the analytical solutions for the stress intensity factors (SIFs) have been obtained
[l, 21. However, to the best of our knowledge, a solution for the determination of the SIFs for
an inclined surface crack under a biaxial stress field has yet to be constructed. The main difficulty
is due to the fact that the surface crack is three-dimensional in nature and should be treated
accordingly.
Rice and Levy [3] have proposed the concept of a line-spring model that reduces the
three-dimensional surface crack problem to a quasi-two-dimensional problem. Rice and Levy [3],
King [4] and Sun and Seng [5] have presented simplified line-spring models, which yield approximate but fairly accurate estimates of K,, crack opening displacement and the J-integral for a surface
cracked infinite plate subjected to uniaxial mode I loading.
An analytical model for an inclined surface-cracked plate loaded biaxially, on the basis of the
simplified line-spring model proposed by King [4], is presented in this paper. Closed-form solutions
for the mode I and mode III SIFs at the maximum depth point of an inclined surface crack
are derived. The variation pattern of the mode I and mode III normalized SIFs is demonstrated
in detail.
IN MAW

A SIMPLIFIED

MODEL

FOR AN INCLINED

SURFACE CRACK

The proposed simplified model and the process of deriving the closed-form solution for an
inclined surface crack is illustrated as follows.
(1) The surface crack is located at the center of an infinite elastic and isotropic plate under
the biaxial stress condition. The plane of the surface crack is perpendicular to the plate. At infinity,
the stress boundary conditions of the surface-cracked plate shown in Fig. 1 are, relative to the
(x/-y) coordinate system,
t;) = 6,

t:, = ko,

t;,, = 0,

(1)

where the stresses c and ka act along the Oy- and Ox/-axes, k is the biaxial load ratio,
t~x(m)/t;y(co), and /3 is the crack inclination angle.
(2) Take a new (x-y) coordinate system. The origin of the new (x-y) coordinate system
coincides with the original one. The angle between the Ox-axis of the new coordinate system and
El%.7,*-1

281

282

ZHAO-JING

ZHENG and SHU-HO DA1

I
I

k
1

ka
-c

+c

B
---_X'

ka

a
Fig, 1. Surface crack geometry and boundary tractions.

the Ox-axis of the original coordinate system is equal to /I. The stress boundary conditions relative
to the (x-y) coordinate system become
txx=fu(l

+k)-fa(1

fYY
= fcr<l + k) + $(l
t,,=fa(l

-k)cos2/I

(2)

- k)cos 2/I

(3)

-k)sin2/3.

(4)

Thus, the problem of an inclined surface crack in the plate under biaxial tractions (Fig. 1) is
transformed into two basic problems: one is a horizontally oriented surface crack subjected to
remote normal tractions t, and t,,,,relative to the (x-y) coordinate system (Fig. 2); the other is a
horizontally oriented surface crack subjected to remote tangential tractions t, relative to the (x-y)
coordinate system (Fig. 3). The importance of such transformations is obvious since the original
inclined crack problem is resolved into two horizontally oriented crack problems, and the loading
is resolved into symmetrical loading (Fig. 2) and antisymmetrical loading (Fig. 3).
(3) The surface crack, illustrated in Figs 2 and 3, is treated as an equivalent through-crack
of the same length as the surface crack. The effect of the untracked ligament of the surface crack
can be thought of as being represented by springs (Fig. 4). The springs generalized closure forces
act directly on the faces of the equivalent though-crack.
Corresponding to the surface crack problem described in Fig. 2, the generalized closure forces
acting on the faces of the equivalent through-crack per unit length are the normal tensile force IV.
and the normal bending moment M,. Corresponding to the surface crack problem described in
Fig. 3, the generalized closure forces acting on the faces of the equivalent through-crack per unit
length are the tangential tensile force N, and the twisting moment M,. In such a way, an inclined
oriented surface crack problem is reduced to two quasi-two-dimensional problems of a horizontally
oriented through-crack.
(4) The generalized closure forces are treated as being constant. Therefore, the generalized
displacements at the center of the equivalent through-crack under remote loading and under
the constant generalized closure forces acting on the equivalent through-crack faces can be
found.

An inclined surface crack underbiaxialstlus

283

Y
t
.

Fig. 2. Horizontally oriented surface crack subjected to

remote normal tractions tn and t,,y.

Fig. 3. Horizontally oriented surface crack subjected to

remotetangentialtractions txy.

For an infinite plate loaded in remote normal tractions by t,, tvp and with the generalized
closure force N, acting on the crack faces, the displacement in the normal direction is El

where O, = N,/t, t is the thickness of the plate and c is the half length of the equivalent
through-crack.
For an infinite plate loaded with the generalized closure force M,, acting on the crack faces,
the rotation in the normal direction is
-8(1 + v)c
&= (3 + V)Ef ab
where 0, = 6M,Jt2.

Nn

f-4%

1
J
a

ct

Fig. 4. Spring ligament.

(6)

284

ZHAO-JING

ZHENG and SHU-HO DAI

For an infinite plate loaded in remote tangential traction by rX., and with the
generalized closure force N, acting on the crack faces, the displacement in the tangential
direction is

where T, = N,/t.
For an infinite plate loaded with the generalized closure force M, acting on the crack faces,
the rotation in the tangential direction is
8, =

-gq),

(8)

where tb = 6M,/t*.
(5) The generalized displacements at the center of the through-crack
obtained in
step (4) are enforced to be compatible with the generalized displacements of the plane
strain single-edge crack strip (SECS). The SECS is used to model the action of the ligament
of the surface crack. The width t of the SECS is equal to the thickness of the surface-cracked
plate (Fig. 4). The crack length II of the SECS is equal to the maximum depth of the surface
crack. The generalized displacements of the SECS due to the crack are given by the compliance
expressions:
6,

2(1- v2)t

(C,,a,

E
*, =

Wl - v2)

(cb, 0, +

-t

I=

2(1+v)t
E

r=

12(1+v)
E

Ctbab)

ebb0, )

w-v

(%,r, +

%bzb)

(11)

@brTt

%bTb),

(12)

where the compliance coefficients C, (i,j = t, b) can be found from ref. [3], and the compliance
coefficients aii (i,j = 1, b) can be found from ref. [7].
Forcing equality between expressions (5) and (9) for 6,, between expressions (6) and (10)
for 6,, between expressions (7) and (11) for a,, and between expressions (8) and (12) for 8,
results in:

p (tyy- a,) =

- v2)t
2(1
E

-8(1 + v)c
12(l;
(3 + v)Er bb =

(TV- t,) =

ac
-j$b=

(Cd?

Ctbab)

*) (C&b, + c,,@,)

2(1
; jr(@,rt,+ @,bTb)

12(1 + v)
E

tab,%

%btb).

(13)

(14)

(1%

(16)

An inched

&p&mS

surface
crack

under biaxial

stress

285

(13-o-(6) may be easily solvedfor a,, cb, 2, and ?b, giving

~~=(&z*;)(C~+3(l
@b =

_s,+J$

.c*.j+yy

-g--g

1
=Ef
-3(l + v)Q& 1
rb=2c/f +3(1 +v)a~*$xyt
where

(6) After the generalized closure forces are found, the SIFs Ki and Ku, at the deepest point
for an actual surface crack are obtained from the expressions of the SIFs for the SECS:
% = J; (a,& + @bl;b)

(21)

ru,,,= J; (% +

(22)

zbqb),

where F, and Fb can be found from ref. [3], and qs and 8, can be found from ref. [7].
Equations (17x22) compose the closed-form solution of the SIFs at the deepest point for an
inclined surface crack under the biaxial stress state.
VERIFICATION
In order to verify the closed-form solution derived above, two cases were calculated.
The procedure for calculation of Kr and K,,, can be summarized as follows.
(a) Given the input parameters for a surface crack, including biaxial load ratio k and crack
inclination angle /I, calculate tY,,and tXYfrom eqs (3) and (4).
(b) Insert tY,,and tXuinto eqs (17)-(20). Find the generalized closure forces Q,, fib, r, and rb.
(c) Find the SIFs from eqs (21) and (22).
Case 1
Take the biaxial load ratio k = 0 and crack inclination angle B = 0. That is, the surfacecracked plate is uniaxially loaded. Set the Poissons ratio v = 0.3, a/c = 0.2 and 0.4, aft = 0.2,0.4,
0.6 and 0.8. The half length c of the surface crack is equal to 150mm. The calculated results for
F from the above equations and from the Newman-Raju formulas [S] are plotted in Fig. 5.
In this figure the shape factor F for a semi-elliptical surface crack is defined by
F = &/(c&WQ))>

(23)
where c is the remote traction as shown in Fig. 1 and Q is the square of the complete elliptical
integral of the second kind, given in approximate form by
Q = 1 + 1.464(a/~).~~.
Case 2

Take the biaxial load ratio k = - 1 and crack inclination angle /I = 45. That is, the
surface-cracked plate is under the pure shear stress state. Set the Poissons ratio v = 0.25, a/c = 0.2
and 0.4, a/t = 0.2 and 0.8. The half length c of the surface crack is equal to 150mm. The calculated

286

ZHAG-JING
(a)
-

2.1

and SHU-HO

BAAC

::I

0.9
0.6

DAI

(b)
2.1 -

;:;I
P

ZHENG

t_/&y

.
0.9

0.3

Newmm-Raju
* This paper

0.3 0

Newmm-Raju

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

* This

0.2

a/t

paper

I
0.4

I
0.6

I
0.8

a/t

Fig. 5. Results for the special case with k = 0 and /I = 0: (a) a/c =

0.2;
(b)a/c= 0.4.

results for A4 from the above equations are plotted in Fig. 6, compared with the results for M from
an alternative method [9]. In this figure, the shape factor M for a semi-elliptical surface crack is
defined by
(24)
where the definitions of both u and Q are as the same as in expression (23).
Although two special cases of the biaxial load ratio and crack inclination angle were verified
in the above Cases 1 and 2, we can consider from Figs 5 and 6 that the established closed-form
solutions give reasonably accurate estimates for the SIFs.
EFFECT

OF THE LOAD BLAKLALTN AND THE CRACK ORIENTATION

THE VALUES OF THE SIFs FOR A SURFACE CRACK

ON

In this section the effects of the biaxial load ratio k and the crack inclination angle /I on the
values of the SIFs for an inclined surface crack at the maximum depth point are discussed using
the previously described formulas.
The following typical parameters are considered:
/I = O, 15, 30 and 45;
k=

-1,

-0.5,

0, 0.5 and 1.

Figure 7 and Table 1 present the variation of the mode I normalized SIFs in terms of biaxial load
ratio k for various parametric values of the crack inclination angle fi. The mode I normalized SIF

2.0

(b)

(a)

2.0 -

1.6 1.2

1.6 A

0.8 0.4 0

1.2

l Altcnmive
method
A This paper

0.8 0.4 -

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

4t

A
l

01

s/c - 0.4
l Alternative method
* This paper

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

4t

Fig. 6. Results for the special case with k = - 1 and /I = 45: (a) a/c = 0.2; (b) a/c = 0.4.

An inclined

*-

surfacecrack under biaxial stress

287

r 0.6
a
ISC 0.4
0.2
-1.0

-0.5

0.5

1.0

k
Fig. 7. Variation of the mode I normalized SIF vs the biaxial load ratio k for parametricvalues of the
crack inclination angle 8.

is defined as KJK,, , where K,,, is the value of the SIF calculated from previously derived
formulas when the crack inclination angle jl = 0.
Several observations are pertinent. First, the values of the mode I normalized SIFs at the
deepest point of the surface crack are maximum when the crack inclination angle /? is equal to 0
for any value of the biaxial load ratio k. Secondly, when the biaxial load ratio k is fixed, the value
of the mode I normalized SIF decreases as the crack inclination angle b increases. Thirdly,
when the crack inclination angle /? is tied, the value of the mode I normalized SIF increases as
the biaxial load ratio k increases. Finally, when the biaxial load ratio k is equal to 1, the values
of the mode I normalized SIFs are maximum for any value of the crack inclination angle /?.
The above-mentioned variation pattern of the mode I normalized SIF for an inclined surface
crack at the deepest point is similar to that of the mode I SIFs for an inclined through-wall crack
under a biaxial stress state.
Figure 8 and Table 2 present the variation of the mode III normalized SIFs in terms of the
biaxial load ratio k for various parametric values of the crack inclination angle /3. The mode III
normalized SIF is defined as K,,, /&,_,
where Kiumaxis the value of the SIF calculated from
previously established formulas when the crack inclination angle /3 = 45 and the biaxial load ratio
k=-1.
It is worth indicating that, first, the mode III normalized SIFs at the deepest point of the
surface crack are maximum when the crack inclination angle /l is equal to 45 and the biaxial load
ratio k is equal to - 1. Secondly, when the biaxial load ratio k is fixed, the value of the mode III
normalized SIF increases as the crack inclination angle jl increases. Thirdly, when the crack
inclination angle jl is fixed, the value of the mode III normalized SIF decreases as the biaxial
load ratio k increases. Finally, the values of the mode III normalized SIFs become zero either for
/3 = 0 and any value of the biaxial load ratio k, or fork = 1 and any value of the crack inclination
angle jl.
Figures 7 and 8 and Tables 1 and 2 are limited to typical values (k( Q 1 and 0 Q /? < 45, which
are taken from the engineering point of view. This limitation of values for k and fi does not imply
any restriction of the previously established formulas, since all the other values for k and /I may
be performed from the established formulas by a convenient change of the input values.

Table 1. The mode I normalizedSIFs (K,/K,_) for parametricvalues

of the crack inclination angle /3 and the biaxial load ratio k
k
B(")
0
15
30
45

-1

-0.5

:E
0:5000
0.0000

1.0000
0.8995
0.6250
0.2500

0.5

Ez
0:7500
0.5wO

1.0000
0.9665
0.8750
0.7500

1.0000
1.0000
l.OWO
1.m

ZHAO-JING

288

ZHENG and SHU-HO DA1

1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
-0.2

I
-1.0

-0.5

0.5

1
1.0

k
Fig. 8. Variation of the mode III normalized SIF vs the biaxial load ratio k for parametric values of the
crack inclination angle j?.

Generally, the values of Ki and K,,, calculated by using the above formulas vary with the
crack geometric parameters a/c, a/t, Poissons ratio v, remote traction 6, the biaxial load ratio k
and crack inclination fi. However, the mode I and mode III normalized SIFs 4/K,_
and
$,,/Ku,_
are only dependent on the biaxial load ratio and the crack inclination angle and
independent of other factors. Therefore, Figs 7 and 8, where the load biaxiality ranged from
k = - 1 to 1 and the crack inclination angle ranged from #I = 0 to 45, reveal the principle
variation pattern of the mode I and mode III normalized SIFs for an inclined surface crack under
the biaxial stress state. The variation pattern also provides a useful tool for analyzing and
explaining the varying features of both fatigue-broken surfaces and fatigue crack growth rate
under the biaxial stress state [lo].
CONCLUSIONS
Based on the simplified line-spring model for a horizontally oriented surface crack loaded
uniaxially, a simplified analytical model for an inclined surface crack subjected to a system of
biaxial stress has been proposed. This model reduces the three-dimensional problem of an inclined
surface crack into two quasi-two-dimensional problems of a horizontally oriented through-crack.
Thus, analytical solutions for the mode I and mode III stress intensity factors at the maximum
depth point of a surface crack have been derived.
The mode I and mode III normalized SIFs, which are only dependent on biaxial load
ratio and crack inclination angle, have been defined. The variation pattern of the mode I and mode
III normalized SIFs with angle of crack inclination and biaxial load ratio have been given
quantitatively.
When the angle of crack inclination is fixed, the mode I normalized SIF increases and the mode
III normalized SIF decreases as the biaxial stress ratio increases. When the biaxial load ratio is
fixed, the mode I normalized SIF decreases and the mode III normalized SIF increases as the angle
of crack inclination increases. When the angle of crack inclination is equal to zero or the biaxial
loading ratio is equal to one, the mode I normalized SIF is equal to one and the mode III
normalized SIF is equal to zero.

Table 2. The mode III normalized SIFs (K,,,/Kn,,& for parametric

values of the crack inclination annle B and the biaxial load ratio k
k

fir)
0

15
30
45

-1

-0.5

0.5

o.oooo

o.oooo

o.oooo o.oooo o.oooo

0.5000
0.8660
1.0000

0.3750
0.6495
0.7500

0.2500
0.4330
0.5000

0.1250
0.2165
0.2500

o.OCOO
0.0000
0.0000

An inclined surface crack under biaxial stress

289

The application of the variation pattern of the mode I and mode III normalized SIFs for an
inclined surface crack loaded biaxially will be described in a subsequent publication.
REFERENCES
VI J. Eftis and N. Subramonian, The inclined crack under biaxial load. Engng Fructure Mech. 10, 43-67 (1978).
PI P. S. Theocaris and J. G. Michopoulos, A closed-form solution of a slant crack under biaxial loading. &gag Fracture
Mech. 17, 97-123 (1983).
J. R. Rice and N. Levy, The part-through surface crack in an elastic plate. J. appl. Mech. 39, 185-194 (1972).
;:; R. B. King, Elastic-plastic analysis of surface flaws using a simplified line-spring model. Engng Fracture Mech. 18,
217-231 (1983).
PI X. Sun and G. Seng, Investigation of transformation of equivalent J for a semi-elliptic surface crack, in Sufiry
Evuluution of Pressure Vessels (Edited by Z. Li), pp. 62-73. Lab and Personal Affairs Press, Beijing (1987) [in Chinese].
M P. S. Theocaris, D. Paxis and B. D. Konstantellos, The exact shape of a deformed internal slant crack under biaxial
loading. Int. J. Fructure 30, 135-153 (1986).
[71 Y. C. Lu and Y. G. Xu, Line-spring model for a surface crack loaded antisymmetrically. National University of Defense
Technology Technical Paper (1986) [in Chinese].
PI J. C. Newman and I. S. Raju, An empirical stress-intensity factor equation for the surface crack. Engng Fracture Mech.
15, 185-192 (1981).
[91 F. W. Smith and D. R. Sorensen. Mixed mode stress intensitv factors for semiellintical surface cracks. NASA
CR-134684 (1974).
WI Z. J. Zeng, A theoretical and experimental investigation of fatigue behavior for surface cracks with shallow-long shape.
Ph.D. dissertation, Nanjing Institute of Chemical Technology (1590) [in Chinese].
(Received 25 January 1993)