R. Chandwani, C. Timbrell

NAFEMS World Congress 2007, Vancouver, Canada, May 22-25 2007

Abstract:
Numerical modelling of three dimensional (3D) non-planar fatigue crack growth under mixed mode conditions represent a crucial factor in fracture mechanics in order to assess the residual life of components. This paper focuses on developing a damage tolerance approach that can be used for the design of aeroengine shaft components under the general mixed-mode loading conditions in the presence of stress-raising features. The initial work has validated numerical results against crack growth measurements on uniaxial tensile specimens under Mode-I loading. Then, more realistic loading scenarios have been applied on shafts to investigate the influence of different parameters (e.g. crack orientation) on fatigue crack growth. All of the present work is based on linear elastic fracture mechanics approaches, including the Paris and Walker theories.