Nuclear Engineering and Design 214 (2002) 137 145

www.elsevier.com/locate/nucengdes

The stress intensity factor study of an elliptical cracked

shaft
Yan-Shin Shih a,*, Jien-Jong Chen b
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chung-Yuan Christian Uni6ersity, Chung-Li 32023, Taiwan 32023, ROC
b
Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, Taiwan, ROC
Received 1 March 2001; received in revised form 1 September 2001; accepted 1 October 2001

Abstract

The stress intensity factors of an elliptical crack front embedded with a round bar have been evaluated by collapsed
singular element with detailed mesh on crack front and appropriating adjacent area. Using ANSYS newly developed
model with sweeping capability, the mesh of the cracked shaft model can be easily built. The three-dimensional finite
element analyses are then performed to calculate the stress intensity factors of elliptical crack front of a round bar
subjected to tension and bending. The ratio of crack depth to shaft diameter is considered in the range between 0.1
and 0.6, and the elliptical ratio of crack area is in the range between 0.0 and 1.0. By comparing the stress intensity
factors for different crack profiles with appropriated published results, the variation of stress intensity factors on the
center and near edge location have been discussed. It also addresses the related change of the equivalent elliptical ratio
of crack profile with respect to crack depth ratio. Based on stress intensity factor results, the three-parameter stress
intensity factor relationships of the crack front are then determined by curve fitting technique. 2002 Published by
Elsevier Science B.V.

made for the crack profile, such as straight-edged,

1. Introduction
The surface crack embedded with cylindrical
component, such as shaft, bar, bolt, wire, is the
most common crack model, and has received
widespread attention in the past. Due to geometri-
cal complexity, some simplification had been
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +886-3-456-3171x4305; fax:
+886-3-456-3160.
E-mail address: ysshih@cycu.edu.tw (Y.-S. Shih).
circular and elliptical crack model, to analyze
such crack problem. For the straight-edged crack
model, James and Mills (1998) have concluded
literature results and presented the mode-I dimen-
sionless stress intensity factor (SIF). The follow-
ing shows the results of a straight-edged crack
subjected to axial loading by using the polynomial
approximation:
K0 I,t (h)
=0.926 1.77h + 26.42h 2 78.48h 3 + 87.9h 4
(1)

0029-5493/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

PII: S0029-5493(02)00022-5
138 Y.-S. Shih, J.-J. Chen / Nuclear Engineering and Design 214 (2002) 137145
where K0 I,t is dimensionless SIF under tension, h
is crack depth ratio (a/D), a is crack depth and
D is the shaft diameter. Daoud and Cartwright
(1978) have also formulated the dimensionless
SIF of a rod under bending from finite element
results and shown as,
K0 I,b (h)
=1.04 3.64h +16.86h 2 32.59h 3 +28.41h 4
(2)
where K0 I,b is dimensionless SIF under bending.
To the circular crack model, Forman and Shiv-
akumar (1986) have conducted an experimental
and a finite element study on a circular crack
model embedded with cylindrical bodies under
tension and bending, and proposed the follow-
ing equation.
KI =[|tK0 I,t (h)+ |bK0 I,b (h)]
ya (3) tion by Shih and Chen (1997). However, due to
where KI is mode-I SIF, |t and |b are remote
applied tensile and bending stress, and K0 I,t, K0 I,b
are shown as,
K0 I,t =g(h) [0.752+ 2.02h +0.37(1 sin yh/2)3]
K0 I,b =g(h) [0.923+0.199(1 sin yh/2)4] (4)
2
(tan yh/2)/(yh/2) tionship by curve fitting of the SIF results for
g(h)= 0.92 . (5)
y cos(yh/2)
In the above crack models, the crack depth
ratio is assumed as the only parameter that af-
fects the SIF. However, in reality, both the
crack depth ratio and the crack profile will infl-
uence the SIF. As evidence in the elliptical crack
model that involves crack aspect ratio as the
other parameter idealized in another surface
crack model. In the last decade, the semi-ellipti-
cal surface crack model has been widely studied
for experimental observation. Carpinteri
(1992a,b, 1993) have used three-dimensional
finite element method to determine the SIFs for
straight-edged and semi-elliptical crack models.
They also examined the effect on the crack
shape change parameters, such as initial crack
sizes, material properties and loading parame-
ters, in a fatigue crack growth under remote
tension loading with two-parameter crack
growth method. Carpinteri and Brighenti (1996)
also proposed a three-parameter model by el-
lipse aspect ratio, crack depth ratio and ellipse
shifting ratio to study the fatigue crack growth,
and concluded that the ellipse shifting ratio is
not necessary. Shih and Chen (1997) have stated
the fatigue crack growth of a semi-elliptical
crack by a two-parameter model that regresses
the dimensionless SIF solutions published by
Carpinteri (1992b). Recently, Lin and Smith
(1997, 1999) have performed a series of fatigue
crack growth simulation of an arbitrary surface
crack under tension by using iterative finite ele-
ment analysis. They would like to simulate the
crack growth free from the limitation of crack
shape assumption for getting the true shape un-
der crack propagation. The trend of the fatigue
crack growth is significantly affected by the SIF
that has been shown in the last fatigue evalua-
the enhancement of updated ANSYS program
modeling capability, one can generate detail
crack tip mesh around the crack front and out-
lying region for examining the SIF effects care-
fully. So, the objective of this paper is to
calculate the SIF on the crack front carefully,
and to setup the other three-parameter SIF rela-
further fatigue evaluations.
2. Assumptions
The SIF solution of an elliptical surface crack
front on round bar under tension and bending
is investigated under the following assumptions:
1. The round bar is made of a homogenous,
isotropic and linear elastic material,
2. The square-root stress singularity is filled with
the vicinity of the crack front,
3. An elliptical-arc surface crack is located at the
half-length of the round bar,
4. Only the mode-I fracture is considered.
3. Stress intensity factors
The mesh of the three-dimensional finite ele-
 Y.-S. Shih, J.-J. Chen / Nuclear Engineering and Design 214 (2002) 137145
Fig. 1. Cross-section of an elliptical arc crack.
ment model of a cracked bar is constructed by
employing 20-node regular and collapsed singu-
lar element. Regular element is used to model
the outlying region of the crack area, and
wedged element is used to model the singular
Fig. 2. Three-dimensional crack-front elements: (a) a 20-node
isoparametric solid (Regular SOLID 95); and (b) a degeneracy
collapsed isoparametric element (collapsed SOLID 95).
139
Fig. 3. Typical global and local finite element mesh for ellipti-
cally cracked round bar.
behavior around the crack front. The degener-
ated collapsed (wedged) 20-node element, shown
in Fig. 2, exhibits the square root stress singu-
larity along the boundary and in the interior
that has been proved by Barsoun (1977). The
well-known finite element software ANSYS has
been used in this analysis. A quarter model, as
shown in Fig. 3, is sufficient to be used to ob-
tain the SIF under tension or bending due to
symmetry. The material modulus of elasticity is
2.8 107 psi and Poissons ratio is 0.3. The SIF
values can be calculated by means of ANSYS
built-in function of crack tip displacement solu-
140 Y.-S. Shih, J.-J. Chen / Nuclear Engineering and Design 214 (2002) 137145
ya
y/a, such that |b desig-
ya, and leads
ya
Fig. 4. The dimensionless SIFs of the middle and near edge
points of an elliptical arc crack front under tension.
tions; however, the orientation of each crack tip
node should be calculated carefully for obtaining
the exact SIF solutions. In order to calculate the
dimensionless SIF solution under tension di-
rectly, the applied stress |t is designated as
1/
ya, such that
Fig. 5. The dimensionless SIFs of the middle and near edge
points of an elliptical arc crack front under bending.
KI
K0 I,t = (6)
|t
For the same reason, the applied force, F, is
designated as (D 2/64)
nated as 1/
KI
K0 I,b = (7)
|b
The results of the dimensionless SIF along the
crack front at middle point and near edge point,
adjacent to point B (z/h= 0.1), under tension
have been shown in Fig. 4. The dimensionless
SIF along the crack front under bending have
been shown in Fig. 5, where crack depth ratio is
considered between 0.1 and 0.6.
4. Numerical fitting of stress intensity factor
solutions
For further application in fatigue analysis, the
following dimensionless SIF relationships can be
formulated from regressing the total SIF solution
for various elliptical crack profiles,
a a n
K0 I, j = K0 I, j , , (8)
D c h
where n/h is the normalized coordinate, as shown
in Fig. 1. In order to obtain the exact SIF re-
sults, the stress state of each crack tip node
should be determined carefully. Due to the facts
that, the edge point on the crack front is satisfied
with the definition of the plane stress condition,
the edge point is free from out-of-plane stress,
and the SIF on the middle point of crack front is
widely accepted as a plane strain condition. The
SIF values are then calculated. The SIF results
are divided into two regions, surface area (n/h=
0) and interior area (1] n/h\ 0). For the distri-
bution of the result, it receives a good agreement
because of geometry. So one may divide the re-
sult into two regions by crack depth ratio (shal-
low crack (0.15 a/DB 0.3) and deeper crack
(0.35 a/D50.6). The dimensionless SIF is deter-
mined by curve fitting regression analysis, and is
shown below:
 Y.-S. Shih, J.-J. Chen / Nuclear Engineering and Design 214 (2002) 137145 141

4.1. Tension case

4.1.1. Interior: (1 ] n/h \ 0)

When 0.15a/D B0.3,

KI,t

a a n
, ,
 a a n   
= 0.15+ 2.8 + 0.8 + 1.37 1.66
a 2
0.27
a 2

          
D c h D c h D c
n 2
a a a n a n
0.63 0.98 1.69
h D c D h c h

0.66
          
a a 2
+0.86
a n 2
+0.88
a a 3
n
(9)
D c c h D c h
When 0.35 a/D 5 0.6,

KI,t

a a n
, ,
 a
= 2.96 13.82 + 24.83
a    
2
+0.16
a 2
0.77
n 2

D c h D D c h

+1.21
  
a a
+4.69
a          
n
1.58
a n
6.29
a 2
n
D c D h c h c h

+1.06
a 2
a
+0.79
a      
n 2
+1.26
a n 2

c c D h c h

5.82
 
a 2
a 2
2.87
    
a 2
a n
. (10)
D c D c h

4.1.2. Surface: (n/h= 0)

KI,t

a a n
, ,
 a a   
= 0.64 + 13.7 0.71 54.92
a 2
+ 4.83
a 2

D c h D c D c

+78.39
          
a 3
2.63
a 3
4.96
a a
+ 35.85
a 2
a
D c D c D c

9.28
          
a a 2
+18.53
a 2
a 2
62.6
a 3
a
(11)
D c D c D c
4.2. Bending case

4.2.1. Interior: (1 ] n/h \ 0)

When 0.15a/D B0.3,

KI,b
 , ,

a a n a a   
n
=0.19+1.89 + 0.8 +1.25 3.51
a 2
0.31
a 2

D c h D c h D c

0.54
          
n 2
0.57
a a
1.23
a n
1.69
a n
h D c D h c h

0.36
          
a a 2
+0.86
a n 2
+0.88
a a 3
n
. (12)
D c c h D c h
142 Y.-S. Shih, J.-J. Chen / Nuclear Engineering and Design 214 (2002) 137145

When 0.35 a/D 50.6,

KI,b
 , ,

a a n a
=1.555.57 +8.70
a     2
0.06
a 2
0.29
n 2

        
D c h D D c h
a a a n a n
+ 1.55 +2.60 1.35

       
D c D h c h
a 2
n a 2
a a n 2
2.86 0.25 +0.92

      
c h c c c h
a 2
a 2
a 2
a n
2.15 1.49 (13)
D c D c h

4.2.2. Surface: (n/h= 0)

KI,b
 , ,

a a n a a   
= 0.17 +5.13 +0.2 19.26
a 2
+ 2.28
a 2

          
D c h D c D c
3 3 2
a a a a a a
+26.55 1.46 4.05 + 16.4

          
D c D c D c
2 2 2 3
a a a a a a
1.96 +5.72 24.23 . (14)
D c D c D c

5. Result and discussion 5.2. Bending

5.1. Tension From Fig. 5, the dimensionless SIF along the

crack front under bending are qualitatively similar
From Fig. 4, both the middle point and near to those shown in Fig. 4. However, by increasing
edge point show the dimensionless SIF increases
obviously as crack depth ratio (a/D) increases
from 0.1 to 0.6, and decreases slightly with in-
creasing crack aspect ratio (a/c). It demonstrates
that crack depth ratio is the major parameter that
affects the dimensionless stress intensity factor,
and crack aspect ratio (a/c) is the minor one. Fig.
4 shows, under constant crack depth ratio, the
plots of the dimensionless SIF value in the middle
and near edge point has a point of intersection.
The line connecting these points of intersection
for different crack depth ratio is called the equiva-
lent line where the dimensionless SIF of the mid-
dle point is the same as that of near edge point.
The value of the equivalent crack aspect ratio will
decrease with increasing crack depth ratio. For
the left side of the equivalent line, the middle
point SIF is larger than the near edge point. On
the other side of the curve, the near edge point Fig. 6. Comparison of the dimensionless SIF on the middle
dimensionless SIF is larger than the middle point. point A of elliptical cracked front under tension.
 Y.-S. Shih, J.-J. Chen / Nuclear Engineering and Design 214 (2002) 137145
Fig. 7. Comparison of the dimensionless SIF on the middle
point A of elliptical cracked front under bending.
the crack depth, the position of neutral axis and
moment of inertia also changes, which will affect
the bending stress. The result of the equivalent
line from the dimensionless SIF of the middle
point and near-edge point are plotted in Fig. 5.
The variation of the equivalent line shows the
same trend with tension, but seems to reach a
saturated crack aspect ratio.
Fig. 8. Comparison between the dimensionless SIF at middle
point A under tension varied with crack aspect ratio (a/c) of
the present (FEM) and those obtained by numerical fitting.
143
Fig. 9. Comparison between the dimensionless SIFs at near
edge point under tension varied with crack aspect ratio (a/c)
of the present (FEM) and those obtained by numerical fitting.
5.3. Comparison with literature results
Fig. 6 gives a comparison of the dimensionless
SIFs at middle point A under tension from the
results given by Carpinteri [5], and Couroneau
and Royer [12]. The dimensionless SIFs obtained
by Carpinteri [5] shows 05% larger than the
present results when the crack depth ratio (a/D)
Fig. 10. Comparison between the dimensionless SIF at middle
point under bending varied with crack aspect ratio (a/c) of the
present (FEM) and those obtained by numerical fitting.
144 Y.-S. Shih, J.-J. Chen / Nuclear Engineering and Design 214 (2002) 137145
Fig. 11. Comparison between the dimensionless SIF at near
edge point under bending varied with crack aspect ratio (a/c)
of the present (FEM) and those obtained by numerical fitting.
lower than 0.5. The result by Couroneau and
Royer (1998) are closer to the present result. For
0.6 crack depth ratio, especially the difference
between the present and Carpinteri (1992b) is
5 15%. Fig. 7 shows the comparison of the di-
mensionless SIF of an elliptical cracked round bar
at middle point A under bending. The curves of
the dimensionless SIFs obtained by the present
are more smoother than Carpinteri (1992b). The
dimensionless SIF results by Couroneau and
Royer (1998) are shown to be very close to the
present results. The difference between the results
of this study and the results of Carpinteri (1992b)
increases with decreasing crack aspect ratio at
small crack depth ratio. For the crack depth ratio,
0.6, the difference becomes very significant. One
can conclude that the present results have good
approximation to the results by Couroneau and
Royer (1998), and get better agreement than the
results by Carpinteri (1992b).
Figs. 8 11 show the results at middle point A
and near point B for tension and bending by
numerical fitting method and finite element
method. The numerical fitting results (dashed line)
are very close to the results derived from finite
element method, especially at middle point A.
6. Conclusions
The dimensionless SIF solution K0 I along ellipti-
cal crack front where subjected to tension or
bending has been determined by a three-dimen-
sional finite element analysis. The calculation of
SIF solution is based on the relationship between
displacement solutions with SIFs. A three-
parameter SIF relationship has been found from
the numerical curve fitting method. The overall
results can be concluded in the following:
1. The dimensionless SIF of an elliptical crack
increases firstly with increasing crack depth
ratio, and secondarily decreasing with crack
aspect ratio.
2. Under bending, the dimensionless SIF de-
creases firstly with increasing crack depth ra-
tio, and then increases for the case of small
crack depth ratio.
3. The crack aspect ratio of equivalent dimen-
sionless SIF decreases with the increase of
crack depth ratio.
4. The results of the dimensionless SIF at middle
point of crack front have good agreement with
the results from Couroneau and Royer.
5. Based on the results by finite element method,
the three-parameter equations are determined
by curve fitting. They show a good accuracy
and can be applied easily to the fatigue
analysis.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful for the financial sup-
port of the National Science Committee through
the project of NSC-89-02212-E-033-002.
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