Engineering

Rintcd

Fracture Mechanics

Vol. 20, No. 3. pp. 521-533.

0013-794464

1984

$3.00 + .oO

PeQamon Ress

in the U.S.A.

A FINITE ELEMENT ALGORITHM

CREEP CRACK GROWTH

Ltd.

FOR

T. R. HSUt and Z. H. ZHAI$

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg,
Manitoba. Canada R3T 2N2

Abstract-A finite element algorithm involving the Breakable element concept is proposed for
the prediction of the growth of a crack in a solid subject to combined thermoelastic-plastic-creep
load. The unique advantage of this algorithm is its ability to provide detail stress and strain
distributions, the kinematics of the inelastic zones, as well as the profiles of the growing crack. A
numerical example with three assigned effective rupture strains as fracture criteria-is included to
illustrate these special features.
1. INTRODUCTION
MANY structure

components in power and aerospace engineering applications are expected to

operate at constant but high stress and temperature fields for many hours if not months. Most
metallic materials can develop serious creep deformation which would cause the inherent materials
deficiencies and flaws to act as nucleous of minute cracks. These cracks can grow with additional
creep deformation and ultimately lead to overall structure failure.
The problem of crack growth due to creep has caught many researchers attention in recent
years. Fracture mechanics concept has been widely used to predict the onset of crack growth subject
to creep loadings. Neat and Siverns[l], Floreen[2] and James[3] showed that creep crack growth
rate could be expressed as a power function of elastic stress intensity factor K. This theory was
supported by Kenyon ef a1.[4] and Yokobori et af.[5]. Harrison and Sandor[6], Nickolson and
Formby[7l and several other researchers[& 91 proposed the net section stress as.another parameter
which can be used to describe creep crack growth with the presence of plastic deformation.
Freeman[lO] found the reference stress to be a better parameter for some materials and Haigh[l I],
Vitek[l2] and Pilkington[l3] used the crack opening displacement rate criterion for the crack
growth. A number of researchers [ 14-171 made attempt to extend the J-integral concept to the creep
cases. A Rower line integral, known as C* was derived following the energy formulation in the
J-integral for the case of viscoelastic material behaviour in the creep deformation.
The C* method has received wide attention by researchers. Though it was originally derived
under the nonlinear elastic conditions, it has been modified in various ways to suit large scale plastic
deformation. The contour integration required for the C* evaluation can be carried out by the finite
element method as demonstrated by Liu et al.[U], although it was customarily evaluated by
empirical formulas.
Attempts were also made by various researchers in the past to correlate various parameters used
to characterize creep fracture of solids. It has been generally accepted that K factor is suitable for
brittle materials, whereas the net section stress concept is applicable for ductile solids. The C*
parameter is considered to describe the creep crack behaviour of materials in between the above
two categories[W221. A more thorough review on this subject is available in[23].
Recently, a few new parameters were proposed. In 1981, a parameter (AT), was developed by
Atluri[24] which is a path independent vector integral and subsequently had been examined in
greater detail by Stonesifer[25] and Atluri [26]. Through their analytical work, they concluded that
(AT), is a parameter which can bridge the gap between K controlled growth and C* controlled
growth and it can be applied to problems of non-steady creep as well as steady-state creep and
so it has some advantages over the more comnonly used C* parameter which can only be applied
to steady-state creep.
On the theoretical and analytical side, Goldman and Hutchinson[27] proved that under steady
state creep condition, there exists a strain rate singularity at the crack tip which can be characterized
tProfessor.
SGraduate student.
521

522

T. R. HSU and Z. H. ZHAI

by the C* parameter. Riedel[28] discussed the creep behavior near the crack tip at different stages
of creep deformation. Hui and Riedel[29] derived the asymptotic stress and strain fields near the
crack tip of a slowly growing crack and discussed the stress and strain singularity of this field.
McCartney[30] applied a continuum energy balance approach to the creep fracture of both
linear and non-linear materials. With a generalized creep damage hypothesis, Kubo et al.[31]
proposed an analytical method based on singular stress strain field near the crack tip.
McCartney[32] proposed a crack growth law for linear visco-elastic solids by using the Dugdale
model of small yielding. Other models have also been proposed, such as the critical strain model
by Barney[33], plastic zone size model by To[34], continuous rupture model by Purushothaman
and Tien[35] and critical COD model by Vitek[36] etc.
Taira and Ohtani[37,38] applied the finite element method to simulate the process. of creep
crack growth under a critical strain criterion and compared it with their experimental work.
Stonesifer and Atluri[25,26] also performed finite element analysis under the uniformly applied
displacement rates at the top and bottom edges of a compact tensile specimen. In their analysis
both C* and crack propagation rate i were assumed to be constant.
As for the mechanism of creep crack growth from a standpoint of microstructure, a review on
analytical treatments of creep crack growth due to vacancy diffusion and condensation was given
by Leeumen[39]. It is agreed that under creep conditions the diffusion of vacancies towards a crack
or a void and their condensation there would contribute to the crack growth. Based on the crack
tip stress field in a creeping body and on models for microvoid growth, Riedel[40] showed that
at low level of C*, the voids growth mechanism is prevailed by diffusion whereas at high C*-values
the voids grow mainly due to creep.
From the above literature review, it has become clear that no unified analytical treatment is
available to cover most aspects of creep fracture. The C* parameter has been used for the purpose
of characterizing the creep crack growth for several materials[l7, 37, 38, 411. However, a serious
shortfall has been discovered in a recent study by Liu et al.[18] that the C* parameter has shown
significant path dependence in the numerical computations through contour integrations by the
finite element method. One plausible conclusion was that the C* parameter being derived on the
similar concept of the J-integral, becomes less relevant when dealing with the cases involving large
inelastic deformation. A modified expression, C:-integral which involves all inelastic energy terms
was thus proposed in Ref. [18] and more stable and accurate results were obtained.
Another drawback of the C* parameter approach is its inability to predict the growth of the
crack quantitatively during the creep loading. A recent model involving the C,*-integral, the creep
damage factor and the tearing modulus of the material was proposed to fulfil such a need[42].
However, the detailed pertinent information such as the stress and strain distributions, the
kinematics of the inelastic zones, as well as the profiles of the growing crack remained to be
computed.
The present paper describes a new proposal on a computer model for the crack growth under
general thermoelastic-plastic-creep
loadings. A special algorithm known as the Breakable
element which was first introduced in Ref. [43] and since was modified and described in detail
with the TEPSA code[45] for the quasi-coupled
in[44] was used in conjunction
thermoelastic-plastic
creep finite element analysis. It has been demonstrated by a numerical
example that by combining these two computational algorithms, it is possible to predict the
continuous growth of a crack under general thermomechanical conditions including the creep
effect. Detail distributions of stresses and strains near the crack tip, as well as the profiles of the
crack at various stages into the creep deformation thus become possible. The versatility of the fmite
element method also provides good potential for the solutions of mixed mode crack growth
involving complex geometries and loading conditions.

2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
(1) Thermoelastic-plastic-creep stress analysis by the finite element analysis
Since detail derivation of formulas used in the TEPSA code can be found in previous
publications e.g. in[45], only the key equations will be shown here.

Finite element algorithm for creep crack growth

523

The analysis starts with the use of a proper materials creep law. Nortons law which has the
following form has been adopted in the present analysis:
zc
E

= I@ exp( - Q/RT)

0)

where T is the effective creep strain rate, Csis the effective stress, Q is the activation energy, T is
the absolute temperature, R is the universal gas constant and &, n are the materiai constants.
Following the procedure described in Ref. [45] the following constitutive equation may be
derived:

in which (i)( ci) are the respective rate of strain and stresscomponents, 3 is the effective creep
strain rate, (0) are the deviatoric stress components. The matrix, [Cd in eqn (2) is the
elasto-plasticity matrix with the elements composed by the material properties and the deviatoric
stress components 1451.
The creep effect in the analysis can be incorporated simply by modifying the force matrix (LIF)
in the element equilibrium equation as follows:

{dF) = (AP)+ {AP,)

(3)

where (APf is the thermomechanical loads and {ds,} is the pseudo creep load which takes the
form:

Wc.1= f IBIT

dv

[B]T[Ccpl(d~}
dv
s

(4)

with [B] being the matrix relating the element strain components and the corresponding nodal
displacements. The matrices (a=>and {dE)are the respective element creep stress and incremental
creep strain components.
The total stress in the element considering the relaxing effect during the creep can be computed
by the following equation:
(da I= [C&(dc ) - (dc 1).

(5)

Since creep is a time-dependent process, appropriate size of time increments are necessary to
insure the convergence and stability of the solution. The Euler integration scheme was used in the
present analysis for the effective creep strain increments defined as:
dZ=$dt

(6)

where 8 js identical to that in the Nortons law in eqn (1).

The maximum time increment At,,, allowed under this scheme for the Nortons law was found
to be [46]:
(7)
where E, Y are respective modulus of elasticity and Poissons ratio of the material.
(2) The Breakable element concept for crack growth
Two common problems encountered by researchers in the finite element analysis of crack

524

T. R. HSU and Z. H. ZHAI

propagation are related to the very fine mesh sixes necessary for the steep stress gradient near the
tip of the crack. Another problem is to apply realistic fracture criteria for the crack extension. The
Breakable element concept was developed to deal with the first problem as described in Ref. [43],
especially for the finite element analysis based on the constant stress and strain elements such as
in the TEPSA code. The essence of this concept is to extrapolate the effective strain in the neighboring
elements to the tip of the crack and identify the portion of the element adjacent to the crack tip that
has exceeded a specified rupture strain, tf. The current crack front within this element can thus be
determined and that elements stiffness matrix is evaluated with a proportionally reduced volume
in the next loading step. The same procedure is repeated until at some load, the whole element is
gradually broken and its stiffness simultaneously reduced to zero. The element is maintained as
a zero stiffness element so that renumbering the complete matrix rebuilding is not required. Boundary
conditions on the nodes behind the crack front then can be changed to free boundary nodes. Thus,
the crack front is considered to have passed through a breakable element and incrementally redistributed its load to surrounding elements.
Significant modifications of this concept were made in recent development[44,47] to account
for local unloading in the material associate with the creation of new crack surfaces and the
correction of the [B] matrix for the current crack front position in the computations of the stiffness
matrix for the Breakable elements. Results of these modifications have shown even better
correlations with experimental data.
(3) Solution procedure
The following steps were followed in the computations:
Step 1. Perform the thermoelastic-plastic stress analysis up to the onset of the creep loading
and search for the element with maximum effective stress, 5_.
Step 2. Compute the time increment At, in eqn (7) and ? in eqn (1).
Step 3. Determine the incremental creep strain dP from eqn (6) and the strain increments (i>
from eqn (2) and the pseudo creep force components from eqn (4).
Step 4. Forward to the next time step (i + 1) with the pseudo creep load and perform the
thermoelastic-plastic
analysis for the entire structure and solve for the total displacement
increments, {du} from:

[Kl{du)= {dJ)
in which [a is the structural stiffness matrix and (dF} is given in eqn (3).
Step 5. Evaluate the strain increment (dc) from

{dc}= Pl{du}
and the total element strain components:

Step 6. Compute the stress increments and thus the total stress components in each element:

{da}= [Cepl(d~)
and

(o}i+, = (c)i+ (do}*

Step 7. From Step 5, calculate the effective strain, P in all elements including the Breakable
elements.
Step 8. Extrapolate Z to the tip of the crack from the corresponding values in the selected
number of Breakable elements at the vicinity.
Step 9. If no portion of the Breakable element adjacent to the crack tip reaches the specified

Finite element agony

for creep crack growth

52.5

rupture strain value c,, the computation continues following Steps 2-9 with updated coordinates:

where I is the position vector. However, should any portion of that Breakable element have a value
of E greater or equal to Z&a new crack front position is established at (11crack = (r(c = G)j.
Step 10. Compute the adjusted element stiffness matrix by:
[K1 =

[B]~C,I[B] du.

s Y

Step 11. Continue the computation by following Step 2 to 10 until the crack front has passed
one Breakable element, At such time a compensational unloading action must be taken;
Since virtually no thermoelastic-plastic-creep unloading path is available at the present time,
the unloading procedure was carried out following the usual time-independent thermoelastic path.
The total stress variation {do) in the element before and after the %tpture was first to be
accounted for. The ~uivalent nodal forces can be evaluated to be:

These forces were applied to the free boundary nodes in a reversed direction in an arbitrary number
of steps, say 5, in order to assure a smooth unloading path.
Step 12. Normal computation following Steps 2-10 upon the completion of the unloading
procedures outlined in Step 11.
3. BACK
~LUST~~~N
(1) Description of the problem
In order to illustrate the principle of the proposed algorithm and its potential applications in
the prediction of crack growth in a combined thermoelastic-plastiie-creep loading conditions, a
relatively simple case study is.presented.
The geometry and dimensions of a center cracked plate identical to that used in Ref. 1381is
shown in Fig. 1. The plate was assumed to be made of 304 stainless steel with its mechanical
properties given on Table 1. As described in Ref. [38], a 98.1 MPa mechanical load normal to the
line crack was applied at the edges of the plate at a constant temperature of 650C.
The creep law in the form of eqn (1) used in the present example was given below:
;c = I.37 x IO-7$.
Three rupture strain values were used as fracture criteria in the three case studies. These were:
$= 0.03, 0.075 and 0.12. These values were unrealistically low with respect to the real rupture
strains of the material at the temperature, but were necessary for the speedy computational purpose.
(2) Finite element model

In all the case studies presented here, only one quarter (shown in shaded area in Fig. 1) was
included in the finite element model due to symmetry. Mixed triangular and quadrilateral plate
elements were used as shown on Fig. 2. A total of 325 elements and 232 nodes were used with 12
Breakable elements placed along the crack growth path. The length of these Breakable elements
was 0.2 mm in comparison to the initial crack length of 5 mm. A discussion on the optimum size
of these elements can be found in [47&
(3) Numerical rtdts
The cracked plate was first loaded by a 98.1 MPa tensile stress applied at the top edge. The
extrapolated effective strain at the tip of the crack at the completion of this load was 0,015. Creep
loading was then followed. Figure 3 shows the analytical crack growth vs time into the creep with

526

T. R. HSU and Z. H. ZHAI

32mm

Plate thickness = 2.3

mm

Fig. 1. A center cracked plate.

Gross

Stray,

Qg :

98.1 MPo
Envtronment Temp. :
660%

(A)

Overall

Finite

Element

Model

(6)

Oetoil

of Region A

Fig. 2. Finite element idealization.

521

Finite element algorithm for creep crack growth

Table 1, Mechanical properties of 304 stainless steel at 650C
Modulus of elasticity (E)
Plastic tangent modulus (E?
Yield strength (uJ
Ultimate strength
% Elongation

140,000 MPa
100 h4Pa
145 MPa
310 MPa
60%

r--I
8

2.66 -

"
Iul
i

,.J 2.62 -

8
0

0.0

10.0

20.0

40.0

30.0

50.0

60.0

TIME, hr
Fig. 3. Crack growth vs time.

three assigned rupture strains. The corresponding growth rates for the three cases can thus be
derived and have b&r illustrated in Fig. 4. The distributions of effective stress and strain along
the crack growth path at various stages of growth have been depicted respectively in Figs. 5 and
6. Figure 7 shows the distribution of two normal and shear stress component at the initiation of
crack growth (labelled 1) and at the end of the computation with the rupture of the 8th Breakable
element (labelled 2). The kinetics of the plastic zones ahead of the crack tip for the case of 4 = 0.03
is illustrated in Fig. 8 and the profiles of the crack for all three cases are depicted in Fig. 9. The
rates of crack opening displacement for all three cases could be computed from the profiles shown
in Fig. 9 and were used to estimate the C* parameter following the formula used by Ohji et al. [48]:
n-l

c*v--a,P

n+l

Ti

t
p:

0.6

E e

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

TIME, hr
Fig. 4. Crack growth rates vs time.

60.0

T. R. HSU and Z. H. ZHAI

528
No.

of elements

broken

160
g

140

It,-

120
100

160

120
g
SE

100

lb- I*
160
140
120
100
0.0

I.6

0.6

DISTANCE

3.2

2.4

FROM

INITIAL

CRACK

4.6

4.0

TIP,

mm

Fig. 5. Effective stress distribution near crack tip.

No. of elements

broken:

0.025
0.021
0.017
E

0.013
0.09
0.005
0.001

0.12

;;$$$&g&
0.06

0.00
0.0

I1

I,

0.4

0.8

DISTANCE

1
1.2

FROM INITIAL

I,

1.6

2.0

I,

CRACK TIP, mm

Fig. 6. Effective strain distribution near crack tip.

2.4

529

Finite element algorithm for creep crack growth

120

I
0.0

0.0

0.0

1.6

Z =0.03

----

Ff =0.075

I
2.4

1
4.8

4.0

I00

j-1
i

3.2

0.0

FROM

3.2

DISTANCE

INITIAL

CRACK

\
\

4.0

4.0

TIP,

mm

Fig. 7. Distribution of stress components near crack tip.

where n is the exponent

defined in eqn (1) o,, is the net section stress, ti is the rate of crack opening

displacement.
The values of the C*-parameter
by Ohtani[38].

are shown in Fig. 10 along with the experimental data measured

4. SUMMARY AND DISCU!3!3ION

The present
packages,

algorithm was developed on the basis of combining two major computational

i.e. the breakable element concept and the quasi-coupled thermoelastic-plastic-creep

DISTANCE FROM CRACK TIP, mm

Fig. 8. Variation of plastic zones near crack tip during growth.

530

I-. R. HSU and Z. H. ZHAI

No. of rl8motr

broken

1.34
1.30

A. zf=0.03

I.26
1.22
1.18
1.14
1.10
1.02
0.18
0. I7
0.16
0.15
0.14
0.13
0.12
0. I I

0.23
0.21
0. I9
0.17
0.15
0.13
0.0

0.2

.DISTANCE

0.4

0.6

0.8

FROM

1.0

1.2

CRACK

1.4

1.6

I.8 2.0

CENTRE,

mm

Fig. 9. Crack pro&es at various stages of growth.

a0 e98.1

o.ool

i/l

0.1

1.0

10.0

MPa

100.0

C, KN/mm-hr
Fig. 10. Relationship between crack growth rate and the C* parameter.

Finite element algorithm for creep crack growth

531

element algorithm. Experimental verifications of these two packages have been reported in
respective references in Refs. [44] and [Ss]. While no direct verification of the combined package
was made, the validity of the present approach has been indirectly correlated with the experimental
and finite element results described in[48] in terms of the C* parameter as illustrated in Fig. 10.
The rates of changes of the crack surface openings for the three selected materials rupture strains
such as shown in Fig. 9 were used to compute the corresponding C* parameters following eqn (8).
As can be observed from Fig. 10, the computed C* variations by the proposed algorithm exhibit
similar slopes as the experimental values. Close quantitative agreement is possible if higher values
of 4 in the finite element analysis were used. Higher values of 4 than the presently assumed
maximum value of 0.12 will be more realistic for the actual material rupture behaviour but the
excessive computational time requirement precluded such attempts at most academic research
institutions such as the authors university.
The numerical example presented above has demonstrated the unique advantages of the present
approach over many existing models as can be outlined below:

finite

(1) It can handle the crack growth problem under combined thermoelastic-plastic-creep
loading conditions.
(2) The use of finite element analysis provides good potential for the problems involving
complex geometries and variable loadings.
(3) The proposed algorithm involving Breakable elements can facilitate the users with
relatively larger elements near the crack tip and maintain smooth crack growth.
(4) The fracture criterion of effective rupture strain is a scalar quantity and hence can be used
for the mixed mode fracture cases[471.
(5) Most of all it is possible to obtain detail information on both the distribution and variation
of stresses and strains during the crack growth process, as well as the profiles of the crack at various
stages of propagation.
There are however, a few shortcomings in the present analysis which require further research
work:
(1) Like most nonlinear finite element analyses on fracture, the present method requires
excessive computing time, especially for cases involving large effective rupture strain used as the
fracture criterion. From a realistic point of view, this value for most metallic materials is much
higher than the 12% as used in the numerical example for the high temperature. It is therefore
desirable to further improve the computational efficiency.
(2) Although corrections for local unloading were made for the redistribution of load upon the
creation of new crack surfaces, it was .carried out by following a time-invariant elastic unloading
path which obviously is erroneous for this type of problem. Derivation of multi-dimensional creep
unloading constitutive relations for common engineering materials is thus warranted.
Numerical results on the crack growth shown in Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate the sensitivity of the
fracture criterion of 4 with respect to the crack growth rate. A more realistic value of Zrin the range
of 2540% for most metallic materials at this temperature will definitely show a trend of stable
growth. A 4 value in that range will also bring the analytical results much closer to those obtained
by experiments as depicted in Fig. 10.
The crack profiles shown in Fig. 9 indicate that the blunting effect of the crack tip becomes
more phenomenal with higher values of Zfiwhich agrees with+the similar observation made on the
crack growth in ductile solids[49].
Plots of two other common fracture criteria of COA (crack opening angle) and CTOA (crack
tip opening angle) are given in Figs. 11 and 12 respectively. Both criteria have shown significant
fluctuation as the crack grew, although a sign of constant mean value appears to exist after the
crack grew beyond a certain value. Further investigation on their validity in the creep crack growth
is needed.
The proposed algorithm, though is still in a rather preliminary stage, sheds some light to the
analytical modeling of crack propagation in a solid subject to complex combined thermal and
mechanical loadings including creep. The proposed algorithm can be greatly strengthened with
more accurate constitutive creep law derived from true 3-D creep experiments with unloading at
various stages. Comprehensive creep fracture criterion in addition to the associate elastic-plastic

532

T. R. HSU and 2. H. ZHAI

C5y98.1 MPo

0.07
l-

0.06 r

0.00
0.2

I
0.4

CRACK

I
0.6

I
0.8

I
1.0

EXTENSION,

I
1.2

I
1.4

I
1.6

Aa, mm

0.00
0.2

Crs=98.l

MPa

0.4

0.6

0.8

I.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

CRACK EXTENSION, Aa, mm

Fig. 12.

Fig. 11.
Fig. 11. Variation of crack opening angles (COA).
Fig. 12. Variation of crack tip opening angles (CTOA).

tearing with experimental

research.

verification is another critical area which requires further extensive

Acknowledgement-The
authors wish to acknowledge the financial assistance to this research project by the Natural
sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Generous support by the authors University on computing facilities
is also appreciated.

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Finite element ~go~t~

for creep crack growth

533

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WI

(Received 7 July 1983; receivedfor publication 28 Novembw 1983)