A SHALLOW CRACK ASSESSMENT SCHEME FOR GENERALIZED MATERIAL BEHAVIOR IN TENSION

A previously proposed estimation procedure for J-strain relationships in power law materials has been further augmented so that it can be us ed for general engineering applications to real material stress-strain curves. The extension covers two important aspects of material curve representation. First the effects of including the material constant a lpha of the power law on J are included-this inclusion facilitates a m ore accurate curve fitting of real material curves. Secondly, a set of equations is presented to account for the presence of a perfectly-pla stic yield plateau, in addition to the strain hardening portion. The v alidity of the augmented procedure was confirmed by comparison with fi nite element solutions on specimens with fictitious and real material curves.