Asymptotic stress fields in the vicinity of the crack in perfectly plastic solids under mixed mode loading

In the paper presents the asymptotic stress fields in the vicinity of the crack tip in perfectly plastic Mises materials under mixed mode loading for a full range of the mode mixities. This objective is engendered by the necessity of considering all the values of the mixity parameter for the full range of the mode mixities both for plane strain and plane stress conditions to grasp stress tensor components behaviour in the vicinity of the crack tip as the mixity parameter is changing from 0 to 1. To gain a better understanding of the stress distributions, all values of the mixity parameter within 0.1 were considered and analyzed. The asymptotic solution to the statically determinate problem is obtained using the eigenfunction expansion method. Steady - state stress distributions for the full range of the mode mixities are found. The type of the mixed mode loading is controlled by the mixity parameter changing from zero for pure mode II loading to 1 for pure mode I loading. It is shown that the analytical solution is described by different relations in different sectors, the value of which is changing from 7 sectors to 5 sectors. At loadings close to pure mode II, seven sectors determine the solution whereas six and five sectors define the solution for the mixity parameter higher 0.33 and less than 0.89 and higher 0.89 respectively for plane strain conditions and seven sectors determine the asymptotic solution for the mixity parameter less than 0.39, while five sectors determine the solution for other values of the mixity parameter for plane stress conditions. The number of sectors depends on the mixity parameter. The angular stress distributions are not fully continuous and radial stresses are discontinuous for some values of the mixity parameter. It is interesting to note that the characteristic feature of the asymptotic solution obtained is the presence of a segment of values of the mixity parameter for which the solution does not depend on the mixity parameter (the solution does not depend on the mixity parameter for the mixity parameter from 0.89 to 1 and the solution coincides with the solution for mode I crack in perfect plastic materials for plane strain conditions). Thus, the salient point of the study is that the asymptotic solution is described by the same formulae for all values of the mixity parameter from 0.89 to 1 for plane strain. For plane stress conditions this segment can’t be observed. The solution in each sector corresponds to the certain value of the mixity parameter. The obtained solutions for plane strain and plane stress conditions can be considered as the limit solution for power law hardening materials and creeping power law materials.