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Eftis, J.

Publications and source records attributed to Eftis, J..

Load biaxiality and fracture - Synthesis and summary

The question of load biaxiality strongly affecting almost all of the characteristics of brittle fracture behavior of a cracked body is investigated. Results of research published piecemeal over the years by the authors have shown that the stress and displacement fields, the elastic strain energy density, and the maximum shear stress near the crack tip are all altered by loads applied parallel to the crack, as are the angle of initial crack extension, the strain energy of the entire body, the fracture load, and the rate of fatigue crack growth. A synthesis and summary of this research is presented showing the shortcomings inherent in both Griffith's global energy rate theory for crack instability and Irwin's local crack-tip stress intensity theory for fracture toughness. In both theories only the tensile load perpendicular to the crack influences fracture behavior of the body.

Eftis, J.

Modeling the viscoplastic behavior of Inconel 718 at 1200 F

A large number of tests, including tensile, creep, fatigue, and creep-fatigue were performed to characterize the mechanical properties of Inconel 718 (a nickel based superalloy) at 1200 F, the operating temperature for turbine blades. In addition, a few attempts were made to model the behavior of Inconel 718 at 1200 F using viscoplastic theories. The Chaboche theory of viscoplasticity can model a wide variety of mechanical behavior, including monotonic, sustained, and cyclic responses of homogeneous, initially-isotropic, strain hardening (or softening) materials. It is shown how the Chaboche theory can be used to model the viscoplastic behavior of Inconel 718 at 1200 F. First, an algorithm was developed to systematically determine the material parameters of the Chaboche theory from uniaxial tensile, creep, and cyclic data. The algorithm is general and can be used in conjunction with similar high temperature materials. A sensitivity study was then performed and an optimal set of Chaboche's parameters were obtained. This study has also indicated the role of each parameter in modeling the response to different loading conditions.

Abdel-Kader, M. S.

Some recent theoretical and experimental developments in fracture mechanics

Recent theoretical and experimental developments in four distinct areas of fracture mechanics research are described. These are as follows: experimental comparisons of different nonlinear fracture toughness measures, including the nonlinear energy, R curve, COD and J integral methods; the singular elastic crack-tip stress and displacement equations and the validity of the proposition of their general adequacy as indicated, for example, by the biaxially loaded infinite sheet with a flat crack; the thermodynamic nature of surface energy induced by propagating cracks in relation to a general continuum thermodynamic description of brittle fracture; and analytical and experimental aspects of Mode II fracture, with experimental data for certain aluminum, steel and titanium alloys.

Liebowitz, H.

Crack border stress and displacement equations revisited

It is more or less accepted in fracture mechanics that the elastic stress and displacements very near to the tip of a plane line crack can be approximated with sufficient accuracy, for all geometries and outer boundary loading conditions, by a one-parameter representation, i.e., strictly in terms of the stress intensity factors KI and/or KII. It is shown here that this presumption which appears to be reasonable on face value, quantitatively speaking, is nevertheless unacceptable as a general proposition. The reason lies with the quite arbitrary practice of omitting the second term of the series representation for the stresses, a contribution which is independent of distance from the crack tip. It is not difficult to show by way of specific examples how such omission can lead to error of serious qualitative nature in the prediction of stress and displacement related quantities of interest.

Eftis, J.

Biaxial load effects on the crack border elastic strain energy and strain energy rate

The validity of the singular solution (first term of a series representation) is investigated for the crack tip stress and displacement field in an infinite sheet with a flat line crack with biaxial loads applied to the outer boundaries. It is shown that if one retains the second contribution to the series approximations for stress and displacement in the calculation of the local elastic strain energy density and elastic strain energy rate in the crack border region, both these quantities have significant biaxial load dependency. The value of the J-integral does not depend on the presence of the second term of the series expansion for stress and displacement. Thus J(I) is insensitive to the presence of loads applied parallel to the plane of the crack.

Eftis, J.

Biaxial load effects in fracture mechanics

It is found that the standard expressions for elastic stress and displacement in the crack-tip region (i.e., the so-called singular solution) cannot be considered to be approximations that are acceptable in a completely general sense. This conclusion is best illustrated by the instance of a biaxially loaded infinite sheet with a flat horizontal central crack, where the effect of load applied parallel to the plane of the crack appears entirely in the second terms of the series representations for local stresses and displacements. An elastoplastic finite-element analysis of the same biaxially loaded finite specimen geometry shows that the global energy release rate, the J-integral, the plastic stress and strain intensity factors (in the sense of Hilton and Hutchinson), and the size of the crack border region plastic yield, all have pronounced biaxial load dependence.

Liebowitz, H.

On surface energy and the continuum thermodynamics of brittle fracture

When a separating body is viewed as a nonequilibrium thermodynamic process, the full thermodynamic nature of the surface energy induced by crack propagation becomes apparent. Within such a general framework it is no longer possible to view the surface energy as a material constant. For the self-propagating crack the induced surface energy is shown to depend explicitly on the square of the crack propagation speed. It is also shown that a separating body produces entropy even though the mechanical response of the solid may be elastic. The introduction of surface quantities such as surface energy into the continuum description of the fracture process forces a major departure from the mechanics appropriate to the nonseparating body. Local equations of balance are no longer obtainable as derived consequences of postulated global balance equations. They must instead be imposed as separate additional postulates.

Eftis, J.

On fracture toughness in the nonlinear range

A general definition of fracture toughness is developed which is appropriate to situations of subcritical crack growth and/or large-scale crack border plastic yield. The theoretical basis as well as comparisons with other proposed measures of fracture toughness are discussed. A simple method is given for evaluating fracture toughness which is based on use of the load-displacement test record.

Eftis, J.

On fracture toughness evaluation for semi-brittle fracture

The existing methods of assessing the fracture toughness of materials exhibiting semi-brittle fracture are critically reviewed. The methods concern the Crack Growth Resistance (R-curve), the Crack Opening Displacement (COD), and the J-integral. An analysis of the shortcomings of the methods described makes it possible to formulate a new definition of fracture toughness appropriate to semi-brittle fracture. An improved simple experimental method for measuring fracture toughness for semi-brittle fracture is proposed which takes into account both crack growth and plastic nonlinear effects at crack front. The proposed method is shown to be free of the theoretical and experimental discrepancies encountered in the R-curve, COD, and J-integral methods.

Eftis, J.

On the modified Westergaard equations for certain plane crack problems.

An error in Westergaard's (1939) equation for a certain class of plane crack problems, originally pointed out by Sih (1966) is briefly discussed anew. The source of the difficulty is traced to an oversight in an earlier work by MacGregor (1935) upon whose work Westergaard based his equations. Several examples of interest, illustrating the consequences of the necessary correction to these equations, are given.

Eftis, J.

General method for calculating derivatives of the lattice electrostatic energy.

A method for calculating the derivatives of lattice electrostatic strain energy is proposed. It offers a computation procedure that is more general, concise, and systematic than any of the procedures previously used by Fuchs (1936), Cousins (1967), and Suzuki et al. (1968). The method can also easily be extended to fourth- and higher-order derivatives without undue difficulty.

Macdonald, D. E.

On the modified Westergaard equations for certain plane crack problems

An error in Westergaard's equation for a certain class of plane crack problems, originally pointed out by Sih, is briefly discussed. The source of the difficulty is traced to an oversight in an earlier work by MacGregor, upon whose work Westergaard based his equations. Several examples of interest illustrating the consequences of the necessary correction to these equations are given.

Eftis, J.

Correcting for nonlinear effects in fracture toughness testing.

Expressions for fracture toughness, which include nonlinear effects due to crack front plastic yield and possible small crack extension prior to fracture instability, are obtained for several test specimen configurations. Inclusion of such effects is based on a simple compliance type determination of the total energy rate at onset of fast fracture.

Liebowitz, H.

On nonlinear effects in fracture mechanics.

Linear elastic treatment of fracture is considered applicable for net section stress up to about 0.8 the uniaxial tensile yield stress. Crack front plastic yield is still small enough to be viewed and treated as a small perturbation to the local crack front elastic stress field. Assuming these same circumstances and adopting the same point of view, an approach is presented for incorporating the nonlinear effects of small scale crack front plastic yield and slow crack extension in determination of the energy release rate and fracture toughness. Deviation from linearity of the load-displacement record in a fracture toughness test offers a quantifiable measure of these effects and is used to calculate the energy release rate. Fracture toughness values for one-eight inch thick 7075-T6 center cracked aluminum sheet are compared with uncorrected values and with values obtained by the Irwin method of plasticity correction.

Liebowitz, H.

Theoretical calculation of plane wave speeds for alkali metals under pressure.

Theoretical calculations of the variation with pressure of small amplitude plane wave speeds are performed for sodium and potassium at zero temperature. The results obtained for wave speeds associated with volume dependent second-order elastic coefficients show better agreement with experimental data than for wave speeds associated with shear dependent coefficients. This result is believed to be due to omission of the band structure correction to the strain energy density.

Eftis, J.

On strain energy and constitutive relations for alkali metals.

An expression for the strain energy as a continuous differentiable function of the Green-Cauchy deformation tensor is obtained for the alkali metals at absolute zero temperature. The development is based on well established quantum and classical calculations of the various contributions to the crystal energy. Stress-deformation relations are next obtained. As a check on the accuracy of the strain energy, theoretical calculations of the values of the second-order elastic coefficients are obtained and compared to known experimental data. The predicted values are shown to compare quite well with the experimental values.

Eftis, J.