Fracture Mechanics Fundamentals

Fracture Mechanics Fundamentals Training by TONEX

Fracture Mechanics fundamentals training is a 2-day training program providing fundamentals of fatigue and fracture concepts and principals, analysis and design, requirements engineering, calculations, verification, risk assessments, validation, system/facility operations and maintenance (O&M).

This practical 2-day course is intended for engineers, project managers, analysts and anyone else who is interested to  specify or evaluate testing and draft fatigue or fracture analysis, requirements engineering, design,risk assessment and testing.

Who Should Attend

Focusing on the needs of engineers, project managers, operations and analysts, mechanical design, mechanics and structures, testing and equipment fabrication, fracture mechanics training is a fundamentals program offers an introduction to the concepts, discipline, procedures and methods.

Engineers who work with

Attendees will learn about:

• Fracture mechanics 101
• Fundamentals of continuum mechanics
• Theory of elasticity relevant to fracture mechanics
• Investigation of linear elastic and elastic-plastic fracture mechanics
• Microstructural effects on fracture in metals, ceramics, polymers, thin films, biological materials and composites
• Toughening mechanisms
• Crack growth resistance and creep fracture
• Fatigue damage and dislocation substructures
• Fatigue crack growth models and mechanisms
• Variable amplitude fatigue
• Corrosion fatigue
• Fatigue in structural, bioimplant, and microelectronic components
• System analysis, design, and corrective-preventive measures
• Risk based inspection and testing

The attendees will learn about the latest analysis, design methodologies, risk assessment and mitigation procedures, weight functions and the failure assessment diagram (FAD) techniques.

Fracture Mechanics training course also covers other related subjects such as  reliability engineering, material engineering, safety engineering, risked-based inspection, risk-based testing and damage tolerance analysis.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of Fracture mechanics fundamentals, the attendees are able to:

• List basic concepts of Fracture Mechanics
• List consequences of Fracture
• Describe practical elements of Fracture Mechanics, Fatigue Crack Growth Analysis and  Fracture Control
• Explain the underlying theory, assumptions and limitations of fracture mechanics and fatigue crack growth, and crack closure
• Describe fracture mechanics analysis and fracture control requirements
• List fracture mechanics requirements of metallic materials
• List fracture mechanics principles applied to other materials
• Describe the process for material selection for fatigue and fracture resistance
• Explain how to perform fracture mechanics analysis, design and calculations
• Describe and identify codified procedures for flaw evaluation
• Describe development and implementation of fracture mechanics analysis and prediction methods
• Predict and characterize damage in both metallic and composite material durability, damage tolerance and reliability
• Describe fracture control process applied to durability, damage tolerance and reliability
• Describe non-destructive evaluation, analysis of fracture-critical parts
• List NASA technical standards applied to spaceflight systems, payloads and ground segments

Course Agenda

Introduction to Fracture Mechanics

• What is fracture mechanics?
• Why Structures Fail
• Historical Perspective
• Fundamentals of the Theory of Elasticity
• Fundamentals of Continuum Mechanics
• Example of some classical problems in elasticity
• Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics
• An Atomic View of Fracture
• Stress concentration Effect of Flaw
• The fracture mechanics approach to design
• Effect of material properties on fracture
• Overview of dimensional analysis
• Theories and models applied to cracks

Elastic Crack Models and Modeling

• Stress Intensity Factor and fracture toughness
• Stress and displacement fields for antiplane problems
• Different Modes of Fracture
• Direction of Crack Propagation
• Modeling tools and principles
• Numerical Analysis
• Westergaard Stress Function

Fracture and Materials

• S-N curve
• Linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM)
• The energy release rate
• Stress intensity factor (K)
• Crack tip similitude and plasticity
• Elastic-plastic fracture mechanics
• Crack tip opening displacement (CTOD)

Principles behind Fatigue Crack Growth  

• Fatigue and empirical crack growth equations
• Crack closure
• Linear damage model
• variable-amplitude loading
• Retardation and load interaction
• Growth of small cracks
• Environmental cracking
• J-Integral

Fatigue Crack Growth Analysis and Modeling

• Fatigue Analysis
• Mechanics of Materials Approach
• Fracture Mechanics Approach
• Materials Containing Microcracks
• Stress Intensity Factors for Practical Crack Geometrics
• Slit Crack in a Strip
• Pressurized Crack
• Corner Cracks

Fracture Mechanics of Metallic Materials

• Residual Strength Predictions for Friction Stir Weld Panels
• Friction stir welding (FSW)
• Fatigue Crack Growth and Crack Closure
• Fatigue crack growth (FCG)
• Damage Accumulation in Aluminum Microstructures
• Experimental Investigations at the Microscale
• An environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM)
• Discrete Dislocation Simulation
• Dislocation dynamics (DD) simulation methods
• Atomistic Simulation of Crack Growth
• Atomistic simulation of fracture
• Twinning and slip near a crack tip

Fracture Mechanics of Composite Materials

• Energy Balance
• Effect of Plasticity
• Failure Modes Under Plane Stress and Plane Strain Conditions
• Crack Tip Opening Displacement
• Experimental Determination of Kc
• Mode I Fatigue Delamination Round Robin
• Analysis Benchmarking
• The virtual crack closure technique (VCCT)

Fracture Mechanics System Analysis, Design, V&V, and Corrective-preventive Measures

• Corrosion Engineering
• Stress corrosion cracking (SCC)
• Corrosion fatigue
• Laboratory testing
• Computing stress intensity factor
• Failure assessment diagram (FAD) method
• Modeling crack growth
• Finite element analysis of components with cracks
• Fracture mechanisms in metals & alloys
• Environmental cracking
• Weight functions
• Metal Fatigue or Corrosion Fatigue
• A Corrosion Engineer’s investigation
• Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics
• Stress intensity factor
• Strain energy release
• Elastic–plastic fracture mechanics
• CTOD
• R-curve
• J-integral
• Cohesive zone models
• Transition flaw size
• Risk based inspection and testing

Fracture Mechanics Control Requirements

• Analysis requirements
• NASA Technical Standard NASA-STO-5007
• Establishes requirements for fracture control
• Manned spaceflight systems and payloads
• Ground segments
• Non-destructive
• Evaluation as well as analyses of fracture-critical parts
• Fracture mechanics & fatigue crack analysis software
• Design of fracture-resistant structures
• Safe stresses for a specified lifetime
• Specification of fracture control plans at the design stage
• Inspection intervals (if any) to maintain safety
• Simulation of crack growth and failure in real structures
• Fatigue crack growth rate and remaining life calculation
• Calculations of conditions (loads, crack sizes) that cause failure

Fracture Mechanics in Failure Analysis

• Fracture Mechanics as a useful tool in the design of crack-tolerant structures and in fracture control
• Quantitative failure analysis
• Preventive measures to avoid the recurrence of failures in similar components
• Important failure criteria
• Relations between design (e.g., section geometry) and materials factors (e.g., fracture toughness)
• Data to correlate fracture mechanics analysis to the observations of a failure analysis

Case Studies in Fracture Mechanics

• Practical engineering applications of fracture mechanics to design, inspection, maintenance, and failure analysis
• Aerospace
• Joints and Mountings
• Pressure Vessels and Rotating Machinery
• Surface Vehicles
• Materials
• Fracture and Fracture Mechanics
• Failure Investigating
• Failure Investigation: Principles and Practice
• Failure Analysis as a Basis for Design Modification
• Slow Crack Growth: Macroscopic and Microscopic Aspects
• Preferential HAZ Cracking of Weldments Subjected to Thermal Fatigue
• Assessing Structural Integrity and Fatigue Failures in Vibrating Equipment
• Failures Arising from Repair Welding, and Incomplete Heat Treatment
• Environmental Effects
• Creep-Induced Failure of Austenitic Stainless Steel Pipelines
• Failure Prevention