Premium
Physics‐based multiscale damage criterion for fatigue crack prediction in aluminium alloy
Author(s) -
Zhang J.,
Johnston J.,
Chattopadhyay A.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
fatigue and fracture of engineering materials and structures
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.887
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1460-2695
pISSN - 8756-758X
DOI - 10.1111/ffe.12090
Subject(s) - representative elementary volume , microscale chemistry , coalescence (physics) , materials science , mesoscale meteorology , fracture mechanics , finite element method , multiscale modeling , structural engineering , paris' law , damage mechanics , aluminium alloy , nucleation , crack closure , aluminium , mechanics , composite material , physics , engineering , mathematics , thermodynamics , chemistry , mathematics education , computational chemistry , astrobiology , meteorology
In this paper, a physics‐based multiscale approach is introduced to predict the fatigue life of crystalline metallic materials. An energy‐based and slip‐based damage criterion is developed to model two important stages of fatigue crack initiation: the nucleation and the coalescence of microcracks. At the microscale, a damage index is developed on the basis of plastic strain energy to represent the growing rate of a nucleated microcrack. A statistical volume element model with high computational efficiency is developed at the mesoscale to represent the microstructure of the material. Also, the formation of a major crack is captured by a coalescence criterion at mesoscale. At the macroscale, a finite element analysis of selected test articles including lug joint and cruciform is conducted with the statistical volume element model bridging two scale meshes. A comparison between experimental and simulation results shows that the multiscale damage criterion is capable of capturing crack initiation and predicting fatigue life.