Engineering Fracture Mechanics 145 (2015) 115127

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Engineering Fracture Mechanics

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/engfracmech

Mixed mode fatigue crack initiation and growth in a CT

specimen repaired by stop hole technique
Majid R. Ayatollahi a,, Seyed Mohammad Javad Razavi a, Mohd Yazid Yahya b
a
Fatigue and Fracture Lab., Centre of Excellence in Experimental Solid Mechanic and Dynamics, School of Mechanical Engineering, Iran University of Science
and Technology, Narmak 16846, Tehran, Iran
b
Center for Composite, Institute for Vehicle System and Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Malaysia

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 2 November 2014
Received in revised form 14 March 2015
Accepted 17 March 2015
Available online 25 March 2015
Keywords:
Stop hole
Fatigue crack growth
Mixed mode loading
Crack growth retardation

a b s t r a c t
The crack growth retardation and the location of fatigue crack initiation from stop-hole
edge under different mode-mixities are examined in this paper by means of a developed
fatigue code. Different loading conditions have been generated by using a mixed-mode
CT specimen made of Al6061-T651. The numerical results reveal that in the presence of
stop holes the reduction in the stress concentration becomes larger for mode-II loading
conditions. A comparison between the reported experimental results and the obtained
computational results shows that the fatigue life extension of repaired specimens can be
well predicted by the numerical model developed in this study.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Cracks are very often generated in structural elements during their service lives. The crack may propagate until nal failure in the cracked elements. Hence, it is very useful to arrest the crack growth by some methods before the failure. The aim of
these methods is to extend the fatigue lives of cracked structural components that cannot be replaced as soon as the cracks
are observed; this situation commonly happens when the replacement of new parts are time consuming and costly. Various
methods for crack growth retardation have been proposed by researchers [1], for example, crack lling [24], application of
the composite or metal patches on the cracked area, welding repair [57], and applying the residual compressive stresses.
One of the easiest and most accessible crack arresting methods is drilling holes close to the crack tip; that can be generally
divided into three main categories: the crack tip stop drill holes (SDH), deecting SDH and crack ank SDH. The crack tip SDH
is used to diminish stress singularity of the crack tip in order to improve the fatigue life of structure. The deecting SDH are
used for changing the crack growth direction and also for retarding the fatigue crack propagation. Drilling two crack ank
holes symmetric relative to the crack line is the other method to reduce the stress intensity factor (SIF), to decrease the crack
growth rate and to enhance the fatigue life of the cracked part [8]. A combination of three above methods can also be utilized
to retard the fatigue crack growth (FCG). These three types of SDHs have been investigated in numerous papers, some of
which are briey reviewed below.
Drilling a single hole at the crack tip has been recognized as a successful and efcient technique for crack growth retardation in cracked structures. The technical procedure needed for applying this method has been well described in several references (see for example [911]). Such procedures often include a preparation stage for detecting the crack tip position and the
Corresponding author. Tel.: +98 21 77240201.
E-mail address: m.ayat@iust.ac.ir (M.R. Ayatollahi).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.engfracmech.2015.03.027
0013-7944/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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M.R. Ayatollahi et al. / Engineering Fracture Mechanics 145 (2015) 115127

Nomenclature
a
crack length
A0, A1, A2, A3 the coefcients for Newmans function
Ak, Bk
t parameters
a0
structural crack length
b
fatigue strength exponent
c
fatigue ductility exponent
C, n, p, q empirical coefcients
Cth
curve control coefcient for different values of R
CT
compact tension specimens
D
stop hole diameter
da/dN
crack growth rate
E
modulus of elasticity
f
Newmans function describing the crack closure
KI
mode-I stress intensity factor
KIc
mode-I fracture toughness
KII
mode-II stress intensity factor
Kcrit
critical value of SIF
Kmax
SIF for the maximum load in the cycle
Kmin
SIF for the minimum load in the cycle
DK
SIF range = Kmax  Kmin
DKeff
equivalent SIF range DK for mixed-mode I and II loading condition
DKth
SIF threshold, i.e. minimum value of DK, from which the crack starts to propagate
DK0
threshold SIF at R ? 0
Me
elastic mixity parameter
N
number of load cycles
Nini
fatigue crack initiation life
Ntot
total fatigue life
P
applied load
R
stress ratio
t
thickness of cracked specimen
t0
the reference thickness related to plane strain condition
W
width of cracked specimen
x, y
Cartesian coordinate components
a, Smax/r0 Newmans empirical coefcients
Da
crack growth incremental length
De/2
strain amplitude
Drh max maximum tangential stress range at the crack tip
e0f
fatigue ductility coefcient
b
loading angle
hc
the angle between the initial direction and the direction of new crack growth increment
c
Angular location of fatigue crack initiation
r0f
fatigue strength coefcient
rm
mean stress
rnom
nominal stress of the notched component
ry
yield strength
rh
circumferential stress
2-D
two dimensional
3-D
three dimensional
APDL
ANSYS parametric design language
FCG
fatigue crack growth
LEFM
linear elastic fracture mechanics
MTS
maximum tangential stress criterion
MCS
maximum circumferential stress
SDH
stop drill hole
SIF
stress intensity factor

M.R. Ayatollahi et al. / Engineering Fracture Mechanics 145 (2015) 115127

117

crack direction using appropriate non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques. Song et al. reported that by drilling a hole at the
crack tip, larger stop hole diameters resulted in longer fatigue lives [9]. Ghri et al. tested some precracked specimens under
fatigue loading and studied the effect of crack tip hole diameter and cold expansion on the fatigue life improvement [10,11].
Shin et al. suggested that the use of hole drilling for extending the fatigue life is more effective than inltration and safer than
applying overload [12]. More recently, Ayatollahi et al. studied the effect of stop hole drilling on the fatigue life extension
under pure mode-I and pure mode-II [13].
Although many researchers have studied the effect of SDH method on the fatigue life of cracked specimens, no studies
exist in the literature regarding the mixed-mode fatigue behavior of the SDH repaired specimens. The aim of present paper
is to study the effect of crack tip hole on the fatigue life of cracked specimens under mixed mode loading. For this purpose,
the fatigue crack initiation and fatigue crack growth were modeled to investigate the mixed-mode behavior of repaired
specimens, the stress state near the hole edge and crack nucleation location under the mixed-mode loading conditions.
Fatigue life analyses are performed using an APDL (Ansys Parametric Design Language) code based on the classical fracture
mechanic models. The hole diameter and the mode mixity of loading are considered as the main variables for numerical
investigations. The effects of stop hole on the crack tip stress condition, crack initiation life and crack growth life are studied.
2. Computational method for fatigue life prediction
To investigate the effect of stop hole on the fatigue life of cracked components, a numerical methodology is used to
estimate the remaining fatigue life of components. The fatigue crack initiation, the fatigue crack growth and the crack path
prediction models required for the analyses are described in this section.
2.1. Numerical procedure for crack initiation life estimation
Engineering components and structures are sometimes subjected to cyclic loads which have a mean stress or a mean
strain. Various methods have been developed to investigate the fatigue behavior of metals in the presence of mean stress.
One of the commonly used categories for fatigue life investigation is the strain based methods. Morrow proposed the following equation to calculate the fatigue life of a component [14],

De r0f  rm

2Nini b e0f 2Nini c

2
E

where De/2 is the total strain amplitude, rm is mean stress, r0f is fatigue strength coefcient, b is fatigue strength exponent, e0f
is fatigue ductility coefcient, c is fatigue ductility exponent, E is the modulus of elasticity and Nini is the fatigue crack initiation life. The Morrow model can be used for both crack initiation life and total fatigue life. The difference between these two
cases is the material constants which are used in Eq. (1). In this paper, the crack initiation life from the hole edge is investigated by using the Morrow model and the material constants given in Table 1 for Al6061-T651. The material constants for
Al6061-T651 were calculated using the test results obtained from the CT specimens as reported in reference [8].
2.2. Numerical procedure for FCG life estimation
In linear elastic fracture mechanic (LEFM), fatigue life is usually estimated for a cracked specimen by using an exponential
function of SIF. One of the approaches that describes all sections of the da/dN diagram is the so-called NASGRO equation (also
called FormanNewmande Koning equation), which is written as [15]


p
n 1  DK th
DK
da
1f
C
DK 
q :
dN
1R
1  KKmax
crit


The FCG life and FCG rate values calculated by using the NASGRO equation have been shown to be in good agreement
with the experimental results. In Eq. (2), a is the crack length, N is the number of loading cycles, R is the stress ratio, DKth
is the SIF threshold (i.e. minimum value of DK from which the crack starts to propagate), Kcrit is the critical value of SIF,
Table 1
Cyclic and fatigue properties of the Al 6061-T651
[8].
Fatigue strength coefcient,

r0f

385 MPa

Fatigue strength exponent, b

Fatigue ductility coefcient, e0f

0.052
0.14

Fatigue ductility exponent, c

Modulus of elasticity, E
Yield strength, ry

0.75
77 GPa
297 MPa

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M.R. Ayatollahi et al. / Engineering Fracture Mechanics 145 (2015) 115127

Table 2
The coefcients of NASGRO equation for Al 6061-T651 and stress ratio of R = 0.1, from Ref. [15].

Smax/r0

a0 (mm)

DKth (MPa m0.5)

KIc (MPa m0.5)

Cth

Ak

Bk

1.5

0.3

0.0381

3.846

29.669

2.733e-9

2.248

0.5

1.5

Crack p

Fig. 1. Incremental fatigue crack growth.

C, n, p and q are the empirical coefcients, and f is the Newmans function describing the crack closure. Furthermore, the SIF
range (DK) depends on the size of specimen, the applied loads and the crack length (DK = Kmax  Kmin), and Kmax and Kmin are
the values of SIF corresponding to the maximum and minimum loads in the cycle. According to the AFGROW database
[15,16]:

(
f

maxR; A0 A1 R A2 R2 A3 R3 for

R0

A0 A1 R

2 6 R < 0

for

where the coefcients A0, A1, A2, A3 are described as






p Smax a
A0 0:825  0:34a 0:05a2 cos
2 r0
A1 0:415  0:071a

Smax

r0

A2 1  A0  A1  A3

A3 2A0 A1  1

in which a and Smax/r0 are the Newmans empirical coefcients. The parameter a is a constraint factor which varies from 1
for plane stress to 3 for plane strain. The ratio of the maximum stress Smax to the ow stress r0 is xed to the constant value
of 0.3 for most of the materials. In the present work, both a and Smax/r0 were used as tting constants, the values of which
were obtained directly from AFGROW database. The threshold value in Eq. (2) can be calculated from

DK th DK 0

r
1C th R
a
1  f
a a0 1  A0 1  R

in which a0 is the structural crack length, which depends on the material grain size (mm), DK0 is the threshold SIF at R ? 0
and Cth is the curve control coefcient for different values of R [15,16]. The thickness effect was accounted by the use of critical stress intensity factor Kcrit as below
2

K crit =K Ic 1 Bk eAk t=t0

where Ak and Bk are tting parameters, t is the model thickness and t0 is the reference thickness related to plane strain condition [15] that can be calculated from

t0 2:5K Ic =ry 2

10

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M.R. Ayatollahi et al. / Engineering Fracture Mechanics 145 (2015) 115127

where ry is the yield stress. Kcrit will asymptotically approach KIc as the model thickness gets larger than t0. The coefcients
of NASGRO equation have reported for some engineering materials in AFGROW database [15]. For 6061-T651 aluminum
alloy, these coefcients are given in Table 2.
2.3. Numerical procedures for crack tracking
Erdogan and Sih [17] proposed the maximum tangential stress criterion (MTS) which can be generally used to dene the
direction of fracture propagation hc. The direction of crack propagation in this criterion is calculated from

hc 2 tan

1

8
2
s39
 2
<
=
K
KI
I
0:254 
85 :
:
;
K II
K II

11

Kitagawa et al. [18] extended the maximum tangential stress criterion to fatigue crack propagation. They assumed in this
modied criterion that the direction hc corresponds to that of the maximum tangential stress range Drh max at the crack tip,
as

(
hc 2 tan1

"

0:25
(

hc 2 tan1

DK I
DK II

#)
r
 2
DK I

8
K II > 0
DK II

#)
r
 2
DK I
K II < 0

8
DK II

"

0:25

DK I
DK II

12

where hc is the angle between the crack line and the direction of new crack growth increment. Ohji et al. [19] presented the
validation of fatigue modied maximum tangential stress criterion for FCG in the case of the high-tension steel in the residual stress eld.
According to the mixed mode condition of the crack growth, an equivalent SIF must be used [20,21], The equivalent SIF
range DK of the mixed-mode I and II crack is considered to be

DK eff DK I cos3

 
 
 
hc
hc
hc
 3DK II cos2
sin
:
2
2
2

13

This equation was developed in [22] by using the maximum tangential stress criterion. Also, the maximum equivalent SIF,
K eff max is considered as

K eff max K Imax cos3

 
 
 
hc
hc
hc
 3K IImax cos2
sin
:
2
2
2

14

The value of hc in the above equations is obtained from Eq. (12). The mode mixity of fatigue loading was investigated
using the elastic mixity parameter, Me (see for example, [23]):

(a)

(b)
22

Fatigue crack

Stop hole

Crack length (mm)

20

18

16

14

12

= 15mm
a 15mm

10
0E+0

1E+5

2E+5

3E+5

4E+5

5E+5

Number of cycles

W50.8mm
= 50.8mm

Plain specimen (Experimental results)

Plain specimen (FCG code)

DD=2mm (Experimental results)

DD=2.5mm (Experimental results)
DD=3mm (Experimental results)

D
D=2mm (FCG code)
D
D=2.5mm (FCG code)
D
D=3mm (FCG code)

Fig. 2. (a) Finite element model of CT specimen [9]. (b) Comparison between the experimental data [9] and numerical results.

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M.R. Ayatollahi et al. / Engineering Fracture Mechanics 145 (2015) 115127

(a)

(b)

(c)

65
13

120

6.5

10

28.5

20

51
13

17

Fig. 3. Mixed mode crack growth simulation: (a) dimensions of the specimen [24], (b) test specimen [24], and (c) the crack path obtained from FE model (all
dimensions in mm).

W = 50

10
2

a = 25 D

60 30
5 5
4
10
10

(a)

(b)

Fig. 4. (a) Geometry of the mixed mode compact tension specimen with stop hole. (b) The specimen within the loading xture.

Me


arctan

KI
K II


15

where KI and KII are the mode-I and mode-II stress intensity factors corresponding to the far eld loading. Me is one for pure
mode I and zero for pure mode II.
2.4. Numerical procedures for crack tracking
In the present study, a numerical code was developed in which the fatigue crack initiation and growth are simulated by
an iterative procedure, which is based on the fatigue models described earlier. For this purpose, the nite element software
ANSYS is linked to the fatigue code to simulate the initiation and extension of crack. The stress, strain and SIF values required
for the fatigue models are calculated automatically by ANSYS and are used as input data for the FCG code. A constant prespecied incremental length of crack growth (Da) is considered in every computation step (Fig. 1).
If the crack growth incremental length (Da) and the numerical results of the effective SIF range DKeff before and after the
crack extension in each step are substituted into Eq. (2), the number of load cycles for each step of crack propagation can be
determined from

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M.R. Ayatollahi et al. / Engineering Fracture Mechanics 145 (2015) 115127

element with the

lowest fatigue life

precrack

Fig. 5. Finite element model used for crack tip hole simulations.


q
Da 1  KKmax
crit
DN i 
n 
p :
1f
C 1R
DK
1  DDKKth

16

The summation of the values of incremental load cycles gives the total FCG life at the end of each iteration (Ni) as

Ni Ni1 DNi :

17

The crack length for the next iteration is determined using Eq. (18).

ai ai1 Da:

18

The crack geometry is redened by the extension of incremental crack segment in every iterative computation step. The
FE mesh is modied and the previous computational steps are repeated until the crack length reaches its critical length for
which DN i 0. The main objective of our fatigue analysis was to investigate the effect of stop hole on the fatigue life of
cracked components. In fact, the efciency of crack tip hole method depends on several variables, for example, the hole
diameter, loading condition, the model thickness and the mechanical properties of tested materials. Therefore, the effects
of hole diameter and mode mixity of loading condition on arresting FCG were investigated.

3. Model verication with experimental results

In order to validate the fatigue code developed in this research, the experimental results reported in [9] for mode I fatigue
crack growth with the stress ratio R = 0.1 in a compact tension (CT) specimen made of Al 6061-T651 were utilized (see
Fig. 2a). The analyzed specimen had the thickness t = 9.6 mm, the width W = 50.8 mm and the initial crack length
a = 15 mm. Fig. 2b displays the fatigue crack growth curve (for mode-I loading) obtained from a 2-D plane strain model used
in the FE analyses. As shown in Fig. 2b, the fatigue crack initiation and growth life estimated using the FCG code for R = 0.1
are consistent well with the experimental data.

/ 2 [MPa] (Stress amplitude)

350
300
250
200
150
100

Monotonic stress strain curve

50

Cyclic stress strain curve

0
0

/2 [%] (Strain amplitude)

Fig. 6. Cyclic and monotonic stressstrain curve of Al 6061-T651 [25].

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M.R. Ayatollahi et al. / Engineering Fracture Mechanics 145 (2015) 115127

Fig. 7. The circumferential stress distribution around the stop hole for the model with 3 mm hole diameter under loading angles (b) of; (a) 90 (Me = 1), (b)
60 (Me = 0.82), (c) 30 (Me = 0.55), (d) 0 (Me = 0).

Normalized Circumferential Stress

Me =
= 190 (Mode I)
teta
Me =
= 0.82
teta
60
Me =
= 0.55
teta
30
teta
M e == 00 (Mode II)

Me = 1
1

Me = 0
-1

s
-2
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

Normalized distance, s/ D
Fig. 8. Normalized circumferential stress (rh/rnom) variation around the stop hole for the model with 3 mm hole diameter under different mixed mode
loading conditions.

Table 3
Crack initiation and total fatigue lives of specimens with different stop hole diameters.

Improvement*
(%)

Mode
mixity,
Me

Stop hole
diameter, D
(mm)

Max elastic stress along

hole edge (MPa)

Angular location of
fatigue crack initiation, c

Crack initiation
life, Nini (cycles)

1
2
3
4

1
1
1
1

Plain specimen
2.0
2.5
3.0

404
370
345

0
0
0

5800
11,660
19,430

11,650
16,090
21,650
29,140

38
86
150

5
6
7
8

0.82
0.82
0.82
0.82

Plain specimen
2.0
2.5
3.0

383
354
326

28
27
26

7,950
16,800
30,220

14,420
20,650
29,110
42,200

43
102
193

9
10
11
12

0.55
0.55
0.55
0.55

Plain specimen
2.0
2.5
3.0

324
297
276

51
50
53

22,290
58,420
118,820

24,530
43,800
79,200
138,950

79
223
466

13
14
15
16

0
0
0
0

Plain specimen
2.0
2.5
3.0

240
222
208

73
72
75

165,770
208,910
1,144,000

No.

Total fatigue life,

Ntot (cycles)

45,030
201,880
243,970
1,176,720

348
442
2513

(Total fatigue life of repaired specimen  total fatigue life of plain specimen)/total fatigue life of plain specimen.

The fatigue crack growth path under mixed mode loading was validated using the experimental data reported in reference [24]. The crack specimen tested in [24] is shown in Fig. 3. Since the crack is not along the symmetry plane, the crack
deviates from its initial plane and fatigue crack growth takes place under mixed mode condition. The initial crack length is
a0 = 10 mm, the material is aluminum 7075-T6, with E = 71.7 GPa, m = 0.33 and a plane strain state is considered. The load

M.R. Ayatollahi et al. / Engineering Fracture Mechanics 145 (2015) 115127

123

Me = 0
Me = 0.55

Me = 0.82
Me = 1

Fig. 9. Location of fatigue crack initiation from the hole edge under different mode mixities (For the specimen with 3 mm hole diameter).

applied for the nite element analysis is 20 kN. As described in [24], the experiments were carried out with 16 mm thick
specimens. Fatigue tests were performed to produce a smooth crack growth with a stress ratio of R = 0.1. The applied alternating load was reduced as the crack grew to avoid premature rupture [24]. This did not affect the crack propagation path,
since the crack trajectory was predicted based on the MTS criterion (Eq. (12)) that, in turn, depends only on the ratio KII/KI.
According to Fig. 3, it can be seen that the numerically predicted path is in good agreement with the crack trajectory
obtained experimentally.

4. Computational model
A mixed mode compact tension specimen of thickness B = 9.6 mm, width W = 50 mm and initial crack length a = 25 mm
was considered for fatigue analysis with linear elastic behavior assumption. A circular hole was considered at the crack tip.
Fig. 4 illustrates the geometry of specimen and its position within the loading xture. Different mode mixities can be provided by loading the xture at different loading holes. The specimen was assumed to be made from a 6061-T651 aluminum
alloy with the Youngs modulus of 77 GPa and the Poissons ratio of 0.33. The fatigue analyses were conducted under constant amplitude fatigue loading at the load ratio of R = 0.1. The loading angles of 0, 30, 60 and 90 were considered for
different mixed mode loading conditions which correspond to the elastic mixity parameter (Me) of 0, 0.55, 0.82 and 1.
Pure mode I and pure mode II are generated at b = 90 (Me = 1) and b = 0 (Me = 0), respectively. The diameters of stop hole
(D) varied as 2 mm, 2.5 mm and 3 mm. The fatigue properties of aluminum alloy given in Tables 1 and 2, and the maximum
level of applied cyclic loading of P = 4.3 kN were considered in the analyses. Because of the low level of applied stresses, the
loading can be assumed to be in the range of high cycle fatigue.
Considering the curved path of crack growth in mixed mode loading, it is much more convenient to use triangular elements (rather than quadratic elements) for multi-step FCG modeling. Therefore, 6-node plane strain elements were used
in the nite element models. As illustrated in Fig. 5, higher mesh density was used near the stop hole to improve the accuracy of the results. Besides, the singular elements (with the mid-side nodes placed at the quarter points) were used for the
rst ring of elements around the crack tip. A mesh convergence study was also undertaken to ensure that a proper number of
elements was used in mixed mode fatigue loading modeling. The suitable value of crack growth incremental length (Da) was
determined using a numerical study on the convergence of fatigue life results. The appropriate values of the crack growth
incremental length (Da) and the crack tip element size were found to be equal to 1 mm and 0.1 mm, respectively. The initiation life was calculated using the Morrow equation (Eq. (1)). For this purpose, an elastoplastic analysis was undertaken to
calculate the plastic strain distribution of the model. The fatigue crack was considered to initiate from the element with
the lowest fatigue initiation life in the stop hole edge. Also, a radial crack of 0.2 mm length was considered in the position
of the element with lowest fatigue initiation life. Once the crack initiated from the hole edge, the fatigue crack growth was
modeled using the NASGRO model (Eq. (2)). The summation of crack initiation life (Nini) and crack propagation life until its
critical length (DNi = 0) was the total fatigue life (Ntot). The mixed mode loading condition was modeled using the loading
xture shown in Fig. 4. The cyclic and monotonic stressstrain curve of Al6061-T651 as reported in [25] and used in this
study is shown in Fig. 6.

5. Results and discussion

The FCG code validated in Section 3 is now extended to study the effect of stop hole on the retardation of FCG in a mixed
mode CT specimen. The diameter of hole and the mode mixity were considered as numerical variables in the analyses. Each
parameter was varied within a specic range described in Section 4. As mentioned before, the mixed mode CT specimens
(Fig. 3) made of Al 6061-T651 with different stop hole diameters were analyzed.

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M.R. Ayatollahi et al. / Engineering Fracture Mechanics 145 (2015) 115127

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Fig. 10. Fatigue crack growth path for different mode mixities after 20 steps of incremental crack growth. (a) Me = 1 (pure mode-I), (b) Me = 0.82, (c)
Me = 0.55, (d) Me = 0 (pure mode-II).

Fig. 7 illustrates the distribution of circumferential stress rh around the stop hole for different loading conditions. For
mode-I loading (b = 90), the maximum circumferential stress (MCS) takes place at the line of the initial crack (Fig. 7a)
and by decreasing the loading angle (b), it moves counter clock-wisely from its initial location along the hole boundary
(Fig. 7d).
Fig. 8 illustrates the variation of the normalized circumferential stress (rh/rnom) around the stop hole edge, where rh is
the circumferential stress and rnom is the nominal stress of the notched component which has been dened in [26] as:

rnom

2P2W a
tW  a2

19

where t is the specimen thickness. According to Fig. 8, under a xed reference load of P, there is a reduction in the maximum
values of circumferential stress along the hole edge when moving from pure mode-I toward pure mode-II loading. The maximum values of elastic stress for the notched specimens with different hole diameters are given in Table 3. Fig. 8 shows that
under mode-I loading, the stress sign is always positive indicating that the circumferential stress along the hole edge is
tensile.
By decreasing the elastic mode mixity parameter (Me), a zone of compressive circumferential stress is produced that its
maximum value takes place in pure mode-II loading. Under pure mode-II loading, the zones of compressive and tensile circumferential stresses are equal along the edge of stop hole. In other words, for the specimens subjected to pure mode-I loading, the applied load causes only tensile stresses around the stop hole. While, for the specimens under mixed mode loading,
the same applied load generates both tensile and compression stresses along the stop hole boundary resulting in a reduction
in the tensile zone of circumferential stress and also a reduction in the maximum tensile stress at the stop hole edge. For

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M.R. Ayatollahi et al. / Engineering Fracture Mechanics 145 (2015) 115127

example, according to Table 3, in the specimen with 3 mm stop hole, the elastic MCS around the hole edge for mode-I and
mode-II loading conditions are 345 and 208 MPa, respectively.
Fig. 9 illustrates the schematic locations of fatigue crack initiation for the specimen with the 3 mm stop hole determined
based on Eq. (1), as described earlier. It can be seen that for mode-I loading (Me = 1), the fatigue crack is predicted to emanate
at the direction of the initial crack, and by decreasing the mode mixity (Me), its initiation point moves from this direction
toward the side of the stop hole that is under tensile circumferential stress. The polar location of fatigue crack initiation
is designated in Fig. 9 by angle c. The value of c increases by decreasing the elastic mode mixity (Me). The positions of fatigue
crack initiation for different hole diameters and loading conditions are given in Table 3.
As a parameter directly related to the stress condition around the hole edge, the crack initiation life is expected to be
affected by the variation of mixed mode loading conditions. For lower values of the elastic mode mixity parameter (Me),
the value of MCS decreases and the fatigue crack initiation life enhances, implying that under pure mode-II loading
(Me = 0), the specimen fatigue life will be higher than under mode-I loading (Me = 1).
After the crack initiation, the fatigue crack growth part of the code was used for predicting the path of crack growth as
well as the FCG life. Fig. 10 illustrates the crack trajectory under fatigue loading for different mode mixities after 20 steps of
incremental crack growth. As shown in Fig. 10, the FCG path declines toward the plane perpendicular to the loading
direction.
Figs. 11 and 12 illustrate the fatigue life of the specimens for different values of hole diameter under various mixed mode
loading conditions. It can be seen that between the three hole diameters simulated by the FCG code, the highest and the lowest fatigue lives are obtained for the specimens repaired with 3 mm and 2 mm diameter stop holes. This is the same for all
mode mixities. For a constant hole diameter, when the mode mixity moves from mode-I loading toward mode-II loading, the
fatigue life improvement increases. The highest values of the total fatigue life improvement is observed for mode-II loading.
Under mode-I loading, the fatigue life improves about 38%, 86% and 150% for the hole diameters of 2, 2.5 and 3 mm, while
under pure mode-II loading and for the same hole diameters, the fatigue life of CT specimens improves about 3.5, 4.4 and
25.1 times more than the fatigue life of the plain specimen. As shown in Table 3, drilling a 3 mm stop hole results in
150% total fatigue life improvement under mode-I loading and it almost causes the fatigue crack to stop under mode-II loading condition. The higher hole diameter causes lower local stress at the hole edge resulting in a higher fatigue initiation life.

(a)

55

(b)

50

Crack length (mm)

50

Crack length (mm)

55

45

40

D = 3mm
D = 2.5mm

35

45

40

D = 2mm

Me = 1
30
0E+0

1E+4

2E+4

3E+4

Me = 0.82

Plain

4E+4

30
0.0E+0

5E+4

1.5E+4

Number of cycles

(c)

(d)

Plain

4.5E+4

6.0E+4

55

50

Crack length (mm)

50

Crack length (mm)

3.0E+4

Number of cycles

55

45

40

D = 3mm
D = 2.5mm
D = 2mm

35

Me = 0.55
30
0E+0

D = 3mm
D = 2.5mm
D = 2mm

35

5E+4

1E+5

Number of cycles

Plain

2E+5

2E+5

45

40

D = 3mm
D = 2.5mm
D = 2mm

35

Me = 0
30
0.0E+0

4.0E+5

8.0E+5

Plain

1.2E+6

1.6E+6

Number of cycles

Fig. 11. Fatigue life curves for different stop hole diameters. (a) Me = 1 (pure mode-I), (b) Me = 0.82, (c) Me = 0.55 and (d) Me = 0 (pure mode-II).

126

M.R. Ayatollahi et al. / Engineering Fracture Mechanics 145 (2015) 115127

(a)

55

(b)

50

Crack length (mm)

Crack length (mm)

50

45

40

M
Me
e =1
M
Me
e = 0.82
M
e = 0.55
Me
M
e=0
Me

35

Plain specimen
30
0.0E+0

55

1.5E+4

3.0E+4

4.5E+4

45

40

D = 2mm
30
0.0E+0

6.0E+4

6.0E+4

Number of cycles

(c)

(d)

50

1.8E+5

2.4E+5

55

50

Crack length (mm)

Crack length (mm)

1.2E+5

Number of cycles

55

45

40

M
Me
e=1
Me = 0.82
Me
M
e = 0.55
Me
Me = 0
Me

35

D = 2.5mm
30
0.0E+0

M
Me
e =1
M
e = 0.82
Me
M
e = 0.55
Me
M
e=0
Me

35

6.0E+4

1.2E+5

1.8E+5

Number of cycles

2.4E+5

3.0E+5

45

40

M
Me
e=1
M
e = 0.82
Me
M
e = 0.55
Me
M
e=0
Me

35

D = 3mm
30
0E+0

4E+5

8E+5

1E+6

2E+6

Number of cycles

Fig. 12. Fatigue life curves for different mode mixities. (a) Plain specimen, specimens with the hole diameters of (b) D = 2 mm, (c) D = 2.5 mm and (d)
D = 3 mm.

Also, the value of MCS in the specimen with 3 mm hole diameter under mode-II loading condition is 208 MPa indicating that
there is no plastic zone around the stop hole. The absence of plastic zone in this case causes the fatigue initiation life to be
much more than the other cases where the plastic zone size is not negligible.
6. Conclusion
The effects on crack growth retardation caused by hole drilling at the crack tip were studied numerically in 9.6 mm thick
mixed mode CT specimens made of 6061-T651 aluminum alloy. All models with different mode mixities and crack tip hole
diameters could provide considerable crack growth retardation and extend the fatigue life successfully. The stress concentration at the stop hole edge was inuenced by the loading condition and the hole diameter. Larger hole diameters resulted
in lower circumferential stress values at the hole edge causing the fatigue crack to initiate in a longer time. Within the range
of results presented in this study, for all the mixed mode loading conditions, higher hole diameters resulted in higher life
extensions. Moreover, by decreasing the elastic mixity parameter Me from one (pure mode-I) toward zero (pure mode-II),
higher fatigue crack initiation and growth lives were observed, for example, the total fatigue life improvement for the specimen with 3 mm stop hole under pure mode-II loading was 16.8 times higher than pure mode-I loading. So, it was deduced
that the fatigue life improvement for the SDH repaired mechanical components under mixed mode I/II loading condition, is
higher than the same case under pure mode-I loading. Although, the related results were obtained for the 6061-T651 aluminum alloy, the same approach can be developed to estimate the fatigue life improvement of other metallic alloys and also
other cracked specimens.
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