Investigation of Plasticity Effects on Growing Fatigue Cracks Using the CJP Model of Crack Tip Fields

A growing fatigue crack gives rise to a plastic enclave that envelops the crack and can exert a shielding effect on the crack from the global elastic stress field driving fatigue propagation. This work presents the potential of the CJP model of crack tip fields to investigate the plasticity-induced shielding effects on growing fatigue cracks as well as its ability to characterise the size and shape of the plastic zone generated at the tip of a growing fatigue crack. The model was specifically developed to consider the influence of the plastic enclave generated around a fatigue crack on the surrounding elastic material. Different aspects related to fracture mechanics and its implications for fatigue crack growth have been investigated, namely plasticity-induced crack shielding, the retardation effect induced on fatigue crack growth due to the application of an overload and the estimate of the size and shape of the crack tip plastic zone. The model has been successfully applied by analysing displacement fields experimentally measured by DIC in different CT specimens made of 2024-T3 aluminium alloy and commercially pure titanium. Results presented in this work intend to contribute to a better understanding of the shielding effects during fatigue crack growth.