Failure Analaysis

   Failure as a Design      Criterion

   Fracture Mechanics

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Tutorial Questions

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Griffith Equation


 :: 
Stress Intensity Factor and Fracture Toughness Testing
- Stresses Close to a Crack Tip
- Fracture of Glass
- High Strength Versus high Toughness
- Quenching and Residual Stress
- Missile Motor Case Fracture
- Fracture Toughness Tests
- Plastic Zone Effect
- Specimen Thickness Effect
- Growth of Semi-Elliptic Flaws
- Leak-Before-Break Concept
- Pressurised Vessels
- Fracture of a Beer Barrel
- Pin-Loaded Lug
- Materials Selection and Temperature
- Chemical Reactor Vessel
- Fracture of Ice

 :: 
Characterising Sub-Critical Growth
 -  Fatigue Life Prediction
 -  Stress Corrosion Cracking

 :: 
Theory Resource



Problem 2

This question is a straightforward application of the stress intensity approach to assessing fracture. It requires assumptions regarding self-weight loading. It should take about 15 minutes to complete.
A noted philanthropist offers you the chance to earn £ 50 000 by simply hanging from a rope for just one minute. The rope is attached to a sheet of glass which is 300 cm long by 10 cm wide and 0.127 cm thick.

Complicating the situation are:
  1. The glass sheet contains a central crack with a length of 1.62 cm that is orientated parallel to the ground and perpendicular to the longest side of the glass sheet. The fracture toughness of the glass is known to be 0.83 MPa m1/2.
  2. The rope is suspended over a deep pit containing rather annoyed green mamba snakes.
Would you try for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?

The stress intensity factor for a through-thickness crack is given by:
where:


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