Estimation of Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) on Crack Component

The investigations related to fracture behavior of materials in thin plates or general yielding fracture regimes are limited in number. Theoretical solutions are available for idealized cases such as Infinite flat plate with edge crack, central crack etc. However main limitation of these theoretical solutions is they are very restrictive and while analyzing a normal component, a lot of assumptions go into it. Finite Element Analysis on the other hand provides good tool to determine Stress Intensity Factor. Cracks generally initiate at geometric discontinuities (such as notches, holes, weld toes, voids etc.) that induce large stress concentration. Since crack growth is related to the effective stress intensity factor (SIF) which is at crack tip, the evaluation of Stress Intensity Factors for a crack emanating from a void is an important initial step in the fracture analysis of components. Finite Element Analysis has been performed to support the results on fracture parameters like Location and Size of Cracks and results has been compared with available theoretical solutions. Analysis of connecting rod is performed to find Stress Intensity Factor at various sizes of crack.