Experimental Study on the Caustics of Moving Cracks and Elliptical Curvature under Impact Loading

A dynamic caustics test system was used, and different moving cracks were analysed to study the interaction between the crack growth rate, stress intensity factor, and curvature of the elliptical end of a moving crack under impact loading. Based on the linear elastic fracture mechanics theory, linearly fitting of the crack tip stress intensity factor and the elliptical curvature were employed to obtain the specific functional expressions. ABAQUS software was used to numerically simulate the moving crack fracture process passing through different elliptical curvatures. The crack tip stress intensity factor was calculated by the stress extrapolation method. The stress intensity factor obtained from the numerical calculation and the caustics test was consistent. The test and numerical simulation results showed that the direction of moving cracks entering and passing through the elliptical defects shows a certain regularity. As the ellipse curvature increased, the moving crack stress intensity factor passing through the ellipse gradually decreased, and the moving crack also passed easily through oval defects.