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Stress Intensity Factor (SIF)

Introduction
• Knowing the stress or displacement field in the vicinity
of a crack tip is very useful for material scientists-to
develop a new material; for designers- to
modify/design features such as notches, cutouts, etc.;
and for experimentalists-to develop methods to
characterize cracks.
• One of the biggest advantages of stress analysis near
crack tip is the definition of a parameter, Stress
Intensity Factor (SIF) to characterize a crack.
• In comparison to ERR (a global parameter), SIF (a local
parameter) is simple for a designer and easier for
laboratory measurements, so as to determine material
properties.
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LEFM
• Almost all engineering materials (except few brittle
materials, such as diamonds) show elastic-plastic
behaviour at the crack tip under high stress.
• But the assumption of linear elastic behaviour (as
applicable to many brittle materials) at the crack tip,
LEFM analysis is simpler than the EPFM (i.e., elastic-
plastic fracture mechanics) analysis.
• Therefore, for the analysis of elastic-plastic fracture
mechanics (EPFM), problems are usually solved through
numerical analysis.
• By confining the attention to elastic (or brittle)
materials in this chapter, we would be able to obtain
close form solutions to many problems.
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LEFM…
• It will also be learned how to deal with the singularity
(infinity stresses at the crack tip).
• Further, a large number of engineering problems of
practical applications involving quite small plastic zone
(in comparison to the crack length) can also be analyzed
through elastic analysis using LEFM to get reasonably
accurate results.
• Linear-elastic analysis through LEFM in this chapter is
carried out to determine stress and displacement fields
near crack tip with characterizing parameter like the SIF.
• It is worth mentioning that the ERR has also been
formulated for LEFM.
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Stress and Displacement Fields in the

Vicinity of Crack
• Let us express stress component 𝑖𝑗 in the vicinity of
crack tip as:

• Here, a study of crack in a flat plate is considered

because it encompasses many engineering applications
including hardware components in the form of angles,
channels, rectangular tubes, circular tubes etc.
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Stress and Displacement Fields in the

Vicinity of Crack…
• Coordinate axes w.r.t. a crack in a plate

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Stress and Displacement Fields in the

Vicinity of Crack…
• The stress field at a general point H near the crack tip
for isotropic and linear elastic material in the flat plate
for this Mode 𝐼 case is:

Square root singularity

i.e., as r→ 0, stress tends to be infinity

• For a thin plate, other stress components are negligible.

• In case of a thick plate 33 = (11+22) and, the other
two stress components (13, 23) are negligible.

Stress and Displacement Fields in the

Vicinity of Crack…
• Displacement field for a plane strain near the crack tip
for Mode 𝐼 of is given by:

Note: Valid only in the close vicinity of

the crack tip

• No singularity, because displacement is finite near the

crack tip.

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Stress Intensity Factor

• Use the concept of combining variables to make the
solution simpler, we combine two main variables ( and
𝑎), appearing together in all expressions, to define a
new variable, Stress Intensity factor 𝐾 as:
(For Mode 𝑰)
• Note that the individual magnitudes of  and 𝑎 are
immaterial as long as is same.
• Therefore, a small crack length in a plate with high far
field stress is equivalent to a large crack length with
small far field stress, provided 𝐾 remains same.
• For Modes 𝐼– 𝐼𝐼𝐼, the stress intensity factor is written as
𝐾𝐼, 𝐾𝐼𝐼 and 𝐾𝐼𝐼𝐼 respectively, with subscript in Roman
numbers.
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Stress Intensity Factor…

• The stress and displacement fields may now be written in
terms of 𝐾𝐼 for Mode I problems of plane strain as:

• SIF characterize a crack, similar to ERR.

• The above equations needs to be modified for finite bodies
or where the crack tip is close to the free edges of the
component.
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Stress Intensity Factor…

• SIF in terms of closed form expression is available for
simple cases.
• For many actual practical problems, it is a challenge and
hence, numerical techniques are used.
• For 𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑒 𝐼𝐼 in plane strain and far field stress 12 =
 with 𝐾𝐼𝐼 = τ 𝜋𝑎, we have:

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Stress Intensity Factor…

• For 𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑒 𝐼𝐼𝐼 and far field stress 23 =  with 𝐾𝐼𝐼𝐼 =
τ 𝜋𝑎, we have:

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Background for Mathematical Analysis

Field Equations (for plane stress)
• Equilibrium Equations:

• Strain-Displacement Relations:

• Compatibility Relation:
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Background for Mathematical Analysis…

Field Equations …
• Stress-Strain Relations: for linear elastic material

Plane stress: Plane strain:

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Background for Mathematical Analysis…

Field Equations …
• Biharmonic Differential Equation:

Same form for plane stress as well as plane

strain cases

Where the function Φ, known as Airy’s stress function, is defined as:

Elementary Properties of Complex Variables

• Airy stress function with real variables is used to
determine the stress field around a circular hole.
• However, extending Airy stress functions to complex
variables is required to analyze
✓stresses around an elliptical hole, and
✓stresses at the tip of a crack.
• We define complex number 𝑧 as:
= 𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝜃 (in polar coordinates)
• By combining two independent variables 𝑥 1 and 𝑥 2 into
one complex variable 𝑧, difficulties of dealing with two
independent variables in solving the biharmonic
equation is reduced.
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Elementary Properties of Complex Variables…

• If 𝐹(𝑧) is a complex function of variable 𝑧, it can be
written as:

• In fact, 𝐹(𝑧) forms a surface on the complex plane, as

shown.

• The function is analytic at a point 𝑧 if 𝐹’(𝑧) exist and the

derivative is same in all directions.
• We equate derivative of 𝐹(𝑧) in 𝑥 1 direction with its
derivative in 𝑖𝑥 2 direction to obtain:
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Elementary Properties of Complex Variables…

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Westergaard’s Approach
• Express  in terms of another complex function
𝑍𝐼 (𝑧) for Mode 𝐼 (i.e., 𝑍𝐼(𝑧) is an intermediate solution
satisfying the biharmonic equation).
• 𝑍𝐼 (𝑧) is chosen appropriately to suit the general
characteristics of Mode 𝐼 problems.
• Then, to solve a specific problem, the form of 𝑍𝐼 (𝑧) is
chosen to satisfy all the BCs of the problem.
• Similarly, for Mode 𝐼𝐼, Westergaard chose intermediate
solution 𝑍𝐼𝐼 for the biharmonic equation.
• The case of Mode 𝐼𝐼𝐼 problems is usually simpler and
can be managed without taking the help
of the biharmonic equation.

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Westergaard’s Approach (Mode I)

•

• To show that Φ satisfy biharmonic equation, adopt the

following convention

To get:

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Westergaard’s Approach (Mode I)…

•

• Substituting in the biharmonic equation:

hence satisfied
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Westergaard’s Approach (Mode I)…

• Substitution of the relevant partial derivatives in
equation:

leads to:

• To solve a given problem, the proper form of the

Westergaard function 𝑍𝐼 (𝑧) is chosen such that the
stress components, determined through the above
equations, satisfy all the boundary conditions.
• Once such a function is obtained, the stress field in the
vicinity of the crack tip can be easily obtained these
equations. 22

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Westergaard’s Approach (Mode I)…

Displacement field (𝒖𝟏, 𝒖𝟐): use stress-strain relations first
to get the strain field, and subsequently, use strain-
displacement relations (for plane stress or plane strain) to
get displacements.
• For Plane Stress:

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Westergaard’s Approach (Mode I)…

Displacement field (𝒖𝟏, 𝒖𝟐): For Plane Stress…:

Note:

Integrate both the partial differential equations using C-R relations,

we get:

• Functions 𝑓(𝑥2) 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓(𝑥1) can be equated to zero (for

no rigid body motion) without losing any generality.
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Westergaard’s Approach (Mode I)…

Displacement field (𝒖𝟏, 𝒖𝟐): For Plane Stress…:
Functions 𝑓(𝑥2) 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓(𝑥1) can be equated to zero (for no
rigid body motion) without losing any generality.

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Westergaard’s Approach (Mode I)…

Displacement field (𝒖𝟏, 𝒖𝟐)- For Plane Strain Problems:
• Substitute the following Eqs.

into to obtain:

and use in the above Eqs. and integrating them yields:

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Westergaard’s Approach (Mode I)…

Displacement field (𝒖𝟏, 𝒖𝟐)…-
• Thus, all the stress and displacement components have
been expressed in terms of the unknown Westergaard
function 𝑍𝐼 .
• The Westergaard function does not solve a problem
completely, but solves it to a stage from where we have a
much better chance to guess the form of 𝑍𝐼 as per the
boundary conditions of a problem.
• The Westergaard approach best suited for the problems
of an infinite plate because there is no need to
concentrate much on satisfying BCs of far field stress.

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Infinite Plate with a Central Crack under

Biaxial Loading
• BCs to be satisfied while choosing the Westergaard
function 𝑍𝐼 (𝑧) are:

• The function 𝑍𝐼(𝑧) which satisfies all the boundary

conditions is

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Infinite Plate with a Central Crack under

Biaxial Loading…
• In the plane of crack, we have 𝑥1  0 and 𝑥2= 0
 𝑧 = 𝑥1

• At the crack tip: 𝑥1 → 𝑎

𝜎22 tends to ∞, thus satisfying the first BC at the crack tip.
• On the cracked surfaces: 𝑥2= 0 and
=0
𝑰𝒎 𝒁𝑰 ⇒ 𝐑𝐞 𝐙𝐈 = 0

Hence, satisfying the second BCs on the cracked surfaces 29

Infinite Plate with a Central Crack under

Biaxial Loading…
• Far away from the cracked surface: we have 𝑧 → ∞,
then

=
=

The differentiation of gives: =0 (when 𝑧 → ∞)

=0
Thus satisfying the third BCs far away from the cracked surface.

• Therefore the chosen form of ZI is the correct solution of the

problem. 30

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Infinite Plate with a Central Crack under

Biaxial Loading…
Stress Field Near the Crack Tip:
• It is convenient to transform the origin from the centre to the
crack to its tip using the transformation: 𝒛 = 𝒂 + 𝒛𝟎

• 𝑍𝐼 then becomes:

• Since 𝑧0 ≪ 𝑎 in the vicinity of the crack tip, the above

Eq. is simplified to approx. relation:

Infinite Plate with a Central Crack under

Biaxial Loading…
Stress Field Near the Crack Tip…:

(A)

• Similarly, the transformation: 𝒛 = 𝒂 + 𝒛𝟎 changes

Eq.

(B)

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Infinite Plate with a Central Crack under

Biaxial Loading…
Stress Field Near the Crack Tip…:
• Substituting for 𝑍𝐼(𝑧0) and 𝑍𝐼 ′ (𝑧0) from Eqs. (A) and (B)
in

to get:

Infinite Plate with a Central Crack under

Biaxial Loading…
Displacement Field Near the Crack Tip:
• For determining the displacement field, 𝑍ഥ𝐼 (𝑧0) is
obtained from as:

(C)

• Then displacement field is obtained by substituting for

𝑍𝐼 (𝑧0) from Eq. (A) and 𝑍ഥ𝐼 (𝑧0) from Eq. (C) into
For Plane Stress For Plane Strain

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Infinite Plate with a Central Crack under

Biaxial Loading…
Displacement Field Near the Crack Tip…:
For Plane Stress For Plane Strain

• Unlike the stress components, the displacement components are finite

and there is no square root singularity.
• Noting that 𝑢1 and 𝑢2 keep on increasing with 𝑟; but note that the above
solution is valid only in the close vicinity of the crack tip.
• Also, note that 𝑢1 does not depend on the sign of  ; it is expected
because 𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑒 𝐼 problem is symmetric about the crack plane. However,
as expected, 𝑢2 changes its sign as  is replaced by – .

Infinite Plate with a Central Crack under

Biaxial Loading…
Crack Opening Displacement (COD):
• Use
(With 𝑥2 = 0)
• And also noting that 𝑍𝐼 and 𝑍ഥ𝐼 simplify to

(Note that 𝑍ഥ𝐼 is integration

of 𝑍𝐼 )

• Substituting for 𝑍𝐼 and 𝑍ഥ𝐼 in the above equation, to get

(Note that: )

• The maximum COD is equal to

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Infinite Plate with a Central Crack under

Biaxial Loading…
• The simple expression was obtained by
neglecting some terms from

• To have some idea of the accuracy of this approximate

results, we would explore how 22 differs from the
correct solution on 𝑥2 = 0 plane.
• For the biaxial case, the rigorous solution of Eq.

is simplified for 𝑥2 = 0 to

leads to
Substituting in Eq.:

Infinite Plate with a Central Crack under

Biaxial Loading…
leads to

• Using the transform of origin from the centre to the crack to its tip using the
transformation: 𝒛 = 𝒂 + 𝒛𝟎, we obtained the rigorous solution as:

(D)
• The approximate solution for 22 is obtained (for  = 0) from

as (E)

• Eqs. (D) and (E) are plotted in Fig.

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Infinite Plate with a Central Crack under

Biaxial Loading…
• Eqs. (D) and (E) are plotted in Fig.

• The %age difference between the two values, rigorous and

approximate (labeled as ‘no approximation’ and ‘one term’
respectively), increases with the increase in distance from the
origin on the crack plane.
• The solution of 'two terms' is also plotted for 22 for  = 0. It
shows that the inclusion of one more term considerably reduces
the difference between the rigorous and approximate values.

Infinite Plate with a Central Crack under

Biaxial Loading…
• For the biaxial loading problem, below Fig. shows the photo-
elastic fringes in the approximate case of using only the first term.
• The lobes of the fringes are almost normal to the crack plane.
Figure (b) shows the fringes when two terms are used and it is
evident that the lobes of the fringes are inclined.
• This result (i.e., (b)) is close to the fringes observed in real life
cases.

(a) one term, and (b) two terms

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Infinite Plate with a Central Crack Loaded in Mode II

• In this case the following form of the Airy’s
Stress Function  is convenient:

Where ZII is complex function and its form would be chosen such that
.
all the BCs are satisfied

• This expression can be shown to satisfies

the biharmonic equation and the stress field
is given by:

• Displacement fields for plane strain cases as

yielded as:

Infinite Plate with a Central Crack Loaded in Mode II…

• For the case of 𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑒 𝐼𝐼, the Westergaard function is taken
as:

This function satisfies all the boundary conditions of the

problem.
• Like in the case of 𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑒 𝐼, we transform the origin to the
crack tip by the transformation relation 𝑧 = 𝑎 + 𝑧𝑜 and
obtain the simplified but approximate relation as:

• Invoking the definition of the stress intensity factor, we obtain:

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Infinite Plate with a Central Crack Loaded in Mode II…

• Substituting for 𝑍𝐼𝐼 and its derivatives in the Eqs. of stress
field, leads to

• Substituting for 𝑍𝐼𝐼 and 𝑍ҧ𝐼𝐼 in the Eqs. of displacement field,

leads to
For Plane Strain For Plane Stress

Infinite Plate with a Central Crack Loaded in Mode III

• Here, it is a tearing mode with the far field
shear stress:
• For this case, the displacement field is
defined as:

• From this displacement, the components

of strain tensor are expressed as:

• Leading to the following stress field:

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Infinite Plate with a Central Crack Loaded in Mode III…

• 𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑒 𝐼𝐼𝐼 is not a plane stress or plane
strain.
• Here the problem is solved with
displacement component 𝑤 as the
dependent variable and hence, no need to
satisfy compatibility conditions through
biharmonic equation.
• Out of three differential equilibrium
equations, only the last one provides the
non-trial equation, as

• In displacement components form, it can

be expressed as: (which is well known as
Laplace Equation)

Infinite Plate with a Central Crack Loaded in Mode III…

• The Westergaard Approach is also applicable to the Laplace
Equation by choosing 𝑤 in the form of:
A complex function of
variable z

• This complex function can be shown to satisfy the governing

differential equation (i.e., Laplace Equation).
• Also, substituting 𝑤 in

yields

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Infinite Plate with a Central Crack Loaded in Mode III…

• The form that satisfies all the BCs is

• 𝑍′𝐼𝐼𝐼 is transformed to the origin at crack with relation 𝑧 =

𝑎 + 𝑧0 and after neglecting the small terms, we obtain:

• Using and expression 𝑧0 in polar coordinates, the

equation is simplified to:

• Substituting 𝑍′𝐼𝐼𝐼 , to get the stress field as:

Infinite Plate with a Central Crack Loaded in Mode III…

• Integrating:

to get:

• Substituting 𝑍𝐼𝐼𝐼 , to get the displacement field as:

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Additional Readings

51

Cauchy–Riemann equations
• A visual depiction of a
vector X in a domain being
multiplied by a complex
number z, then mapped by
f, versus being mapped by f
then being multiplied by z
afterwards. If both of these
result in the point ending
up in the same place for all
X and z, then f satisfies the
Cauchy-Riemann condition
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Cauchy–Riemann equations…
• In the field of complex analysis in mathematics, the Cauchy–
Riemann equations consist of a system of two partial differential
equations which, together with certain continuity and
differentiability criteria, form a necessary and sufficient condition
for a complex function to be complex differentiable, that
is, holomorphic.
• Holomorphy is the property of a complex function of being
differentiable at every point of an open and connected subset of
ℂ (this is called a domain in ℂ). Consequently, we can assert that a
complex function f, whose real and imaginary parts u and v are
real-differentiable functions, is holomorphic if and only if,
Cauchy–Riemann equations are satisfied throughout
the domain we are dealing with. Holomorphic functions are
analytic and vice versa.
• This means that, in complex analysis, a function that is complex-
differentiable in a whole domain (holomorphic) is the same as an
analytic function. This is not true for real differentiable functions.
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Cauchy–Riemann equations…
• A function is complex analytic if and only if it
is holomorphic i.e. it is complex differentiable. For
this reason the terms "holomorphic" and "analytic"
are often used interchangeably for such functions

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• First, Westergaard's solution applies directly to cracks,

not to an ellipse that approaches a crack in the limit.
Second, the solution is expressed in rectangular
coordinates rather than elliptical coordinates.
• The one caveat to note is that Westergaard's solution
applies to an infinite plate in equibiaxial, not uniaxial,
tension. Nevertheless, it does provide much additional
insight into the stress fields surrounding cracks.
• Westergaard chose a function of complex
numbers, z=x+iyz=x+iy, as the Airy stress function for a
crack in tension. This permits stress to be expressed as
a function of x and y, σ=f(x,y)σ=f(x,y), but more
compactly by using complex numbers.

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Photoelasticity
• Photoelasticity is an experimental technique for stress and strain analysis that is
particularly useful for members having complicated geometry, complicated
loading conditions, or both.
• The name photoelasticity reflects the nature of this experimental method: photo
implies the use of light rays and optical techniques, while elasticity depicts the
study of stresses and deformations in elastic bodies. Through the photoelastic-
coating technique, its domain has extended to inelastic bodies, too.
• Photoelastic analysis is widely used for problems in which stress or strain
information is required for extended regions of the structure. It provides
quantitative evidence of highly stressed areas and peak stresses at surface and
interior points of the structure — and often equally important, it discerns areas
of low stress level where structural material is utilized inefficiently.
• The photoelastic method is based upon a unique property of some transparent
materials, in particular, certain plastics. Consider a model of some structural part
made from a photoelastic material. When the model is stressed and a ray of light
enters along one of the directions of principal stress, a remarkable thing
happens. The light is divided into two component waves, each with its plane of
vibration (plane of polarization) parallel to one of the remaining two principal
planes (planes on which shear stress is zero).

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