J-INTEGRAL FUNCTION FOR A CENTER-CRACKED TENSILE SPECIMEN

The equation which relates J to the area measured between the load v c rack mouth opening displacement (CMOD) and the secant offset Line in a centre-cracked tensile (CCT) specimen is investigated in this paper. The limits of the equation are evaluated for a range of power law hard ening material behaviour using data given in the EPRI Handbook. Compar ison with finite element results confirms that the equation gives good agreement with J contour integral values for crack length to specimen width ratios (0.25 less than or equal to a/w less than or equal to 0. 75) of practical interest and a wide range of material behaviour. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.