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In Situ Experimental Study of Near-Tip Strain Evolution of Fatigue Cracks

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Abstract

Near crack tip strain fields in a stationary and a growing fatigue crack have been studied in situ using the Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique in a compact tension specimen of stainless steel 316 L under tension-tension cyclic loading. The evolution of near-tip strains normal to the crack plane was monitored at selected locations ahead of the crack tip in consecutive cycles during fatigue crack growth experiments. A stationary crack was examined first to provide a baseline reference whilst the evolution of the strain field ahead of a growing crack was monitored in situ at peak loads during fatigue cycling. The results show that strain accumulation with loading cycle occurred at all tracked locations in both cases, and it is particularly evident close to the crack tip. Moreover, a higher strain accumulation rate was found near the growing crack tip than that near the stationary crack tip. The results on near-tip strain evolution were collected for the first time in situ during the fatigue crack growth experiments, which may hopefully inform a physical-based modelling strategy of fatigue crack growth.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Mr Upendra Chaudhari for his assistance in the experiments. Aramis system used in the study was kindly provided by GOM UK Ltd., their help is gratefully acknowledged.

The authors would also like to express their appreciation for the helpful comments and suggestions from an anonymous reviewer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanical Behaviour of Materials Group, School of Engineering, University of Portsmouth, Anglesea Building, Anglesea Road, Portsmouth, PO1 3DJ, UK

    Y.-W. Lu, C. Lupton, M.-L. Zhu & J. Tong

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  1. Y.-W. Lu
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  2. C. Lupton
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  3. M.-L. Zhu
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  4. J. Tong
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Correspondence to J. Tong.

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Lu, YW., Lupton, C., Zhu, ML. et al. In Situ Experimental Study of Near-Tip Strain Evolution of Fatigue Cracks. Exp Mech 55, 1175–1185 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11340-015-0014-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11340-015-0014-4

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