Textbook in PDF format

This book provides a systematic and standardized approach based on the authors’ over 30 years of research experience with weight function methods, as well as the relevant literature. Fracture mechanics has become an indispensable tool for the design and safe operation of damage-tolerant structures in many important technical areas. The stress intensity factor—the characterizing parameter of the crack tip field—is the foundation of fracture mechanics analysis. The weight function method is a powerful technique for determining stress intensity factors and crack opening displacements for complex load conditions, with remarkable computational efficiency and high accuracy. The book presents the theoretical background of the weight function methods, together with a wealth of analytical weight functions and stress intensity factors for two- and three-dimensional crack geometries; many of these have been incorporated into national, international standards and industrial codes of practice. The accuracy of the results is rigorously verified, and various sample applications are provided. Accordingly, the book offers an ideal reference source for graduate students, researchers, and engineers whose work involves fracture and fatigue of materials and structures, who need not only stress intensity factors themselves but also efficient and reliable tools for obtaining them. Standardized Analytical Weight Function Method Based on Crack Opening Displacements Analysis and Discussions on Weight Function Methods Based on Multiple Reference Load Cases Verification and Accuracy Evaluation of Various Weight Function Methods Weight Functions for Center Crack Geometries Weight Functions for Edge Crack in Simply Connected Region Weight Functions for Edge Crack(s) in Multiply Connected Region Weight Function Method for Crack in Orthotropic Materials Weight Function Method for Collinear Cracks and Its Application to Multiple Site Damage Mode II Weight Functions and Mixed Mode Stress Intensity Factors Weight Function Methods for Three-Dimensional Crack Problems Analysis of Cracks in Thermal and Residual Stress Fields UsingWeight Function Method Computation of Crack Opening Displacements and Crack Opening Areas Using Analytical Weight Function Method Weight Function Analyses of Crack Bridging, Cohesive Model and Crack Opening Stress Weight Functions and Stress Intensity Factors for Complex Crack Geometries Determination of Crack-Line Stress by Using Inverse Weight Function Method Appendix