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A review is made of methods for calculating parameters characterizing crack tip behaviour in non‐linear materials. Convenient methods of calculating J‐integral type quantities are reviewed, classified broadly into two groups, as domain integrals and virtual crack extension techniques. In addition to considerations of how such quantities may be calculated by finite elements, assessment methods of conducting the actual incremental analyses are described.

The purpose of this paper is to develop basic principles of deterministic structural integrity assessment of a component with a crack- or notch-like defect by including safety factors against fracture and plastic collapse in criteria equations of linear and nonlinear fracture mechanics.

The safety factors against fracture are calculated by demanding that the applied critical stress should not be less than the yield stress of the material for a component with a crack or a notch of the acceptable size. Structural integrity assessment of the engineering components damaged by crack- or notch-like defects is discussed from view point of the failure assessment diagram (FAD). The methodology of the FAD has been employed for the structural integrity analysis and assessment of acceptable sizes of throw-thickness notch in a plate under tension and surface longitudinal notch-like defects in a pressure vessel.

Basic equations have been presented to calculate the safety factor against fracture for critical values of the stress intensity factor, crack tip opening displacement (CTOD), the J-integral and the FAD as well as to estimate an acceptable (safe) region for an engineering component with a crack- or notch-like defect of the acceptable size. It was shown that safety factors against fracture depend on both the safety factor against plastic collapse and employed fracture mechanics criterion. The effect of crack/notch tip constraint is incorporated into criteria equations for the calculation of safety factors against fracture.

The deterministic method of fracture mechanics is recommended for structural integrity assessment of a component with a crack- or notch-like defect by including safety factors against fracture and plastic collapse in criteria equations of linear and nonlinear fracture mechanics.

The purpose of this paper is to perform a theoretical analysis of non-linear delamination fracture in cantilever beam opened notch (CBON) configuration. It is assumed that the non-linear mechanical behavior of the CBON can be described by using a stress-strain curve with power-law hardening.

The fracture analysis is carried-out by applying the integration contour independent J-integral. For this purpose, a model based on the technical beam theory is used. Equation is derived for determination of the CBON specimen curvature in elastic-plastic stage of deformation. The equation is solved by using the MatLab program system. Solutions of the J-integral are obtained at linear-elastic as well as elastic-plastic behavior of the CBON. The influence of the power-law exponent on the non-linear fracture is evaluated.

The analysis reveals that the J-integral value increases when the exponent of the power-law increases. The solution obtained here is very useful for parametric analyses of the non-linear fracture behavior, since the simple formulas derived capture the essentials of the fracture response.

Beside for parametric investigations, the solution obtained here can also be applied for calculating the critical J-integral value at non-linear behavior using experimentally determined critical fracture load at the onset of crack growth from the initial crack tip position in the CBON configuration.

An analysis is performed of the non-linear fracture in the CBON configuration by applying the J-integral approach, assuming that the mechanical response can be modeled using a stress-strain curve with power-law hardening.

The purpose of this paper is to further develop the truss‐like discrete element method (DEM) in order to make it suitable to deal with damage and fracture problems.

Finite and boundary elements are the best developed methods in the field of numerical fracture and damage mechanics. However, these methods are based on a continuum approach, and thus, the modelling of crack nucleation and propagation could be sometimes a cumbersome task. Besides, discrete methods possess the natural ability to introduce discontinuities in a very direct and intuitive way by simply breaking the link between their discrete components. Within this context, the present work extends the capabilities of a truss‐like DEM via the introduction of three novel features: a tri‐linear elasto‐plastic constitutive law; a methodology for crack discretization and the computation of stress intensity factors; and a methodology for the computation of the stress field components from the unixial discrete‐element results.

Obtained results show the suitability and the performance of the proposed methodologies to solve static and dynamic crack problems (including crack propagation) in brittle and elasto‐plastic materials. Computed results are in good agreement with experimental and numerical results reported in the bibliography.

This paper demonstrates the versatility of the truss‐like DEM to deal with damage mechanics problems. The approach used in this work can be extended to the implementation of time‐dependent damage mechanisms. Besides, the capabilities of the discrete approach could be exploited by coupling the truss‐like DEM to finite and boundary element methods. Coupling strategies would allow using the DEM to model the regions of the problem where crack nucleation and propagation occurs, while finite or boundary elements are used to model the undamaged regions.

The scope of the truss‐like DEM has been extended. New procedures have been introduced to deal with elastoplastic‐crack problems and to improve the post processing of the stress results.

The purpose of this paper is to perform an analytical study of non-linear elastic delamination fracture in the multilayered functionally graded split cantilever beam (SCB) configuration. The SCB studied may have an arbitrary number of vertical layers. The material in each layer is functionally graded along the layer thickness. Also, the material properties may be different in each layer. The analytical solution derived was applied for parametric investigations in order to evaluate the effects of material properties and delamination crack location on the non-linear fracture behaviour.

The delamination fracture was studied in terms of the strain energy release rate. The SCB mechanical response was described by using a power-law stress-strain relation. A non-linear analytical solution for the strain energy release rate was derived by considering the SCB complementary strain energy. In order to verify the solution, an additional analysis of the strain energy release rate was developed by considering the complementary strain energy in the beam cross-sections ahead and behind the crack front.

The effects of material gradient, crack location along the beam width and non-linear material behaviour on the delamination fracture were evaluated. The analytical solution derived is useful for parametric studies of non-linear fracture in multilayered functionally graded beams.

Delamination fracture in the multilayered functionally graded SCB configuration was analysed with considering the non-linear material behaviour.

Mode I static fracture behavior of polymer composites is studied using the tapered double cantilever beam test method. A non‐linear three‐dimensional finite element model is developed to analyze the test data. The fracture toughness is evaluated using a J‐integral approach. A non‐uniform distribution of the J‐integral value along the crack front is obtained with maximum at the mid‐plane of the specimen. It is shown that taking into account the damage induced non‐linear behavior improves the fracture toughness. This is explained with increased strain energy dissipation as a result of the non‐linear behavior.

The purpose of this paper is to perform a theoretical analysis of delamination fracture behaviour of the Crack Lap Shear layered beam configuration taking into account the material non-linearity. A delamination crack located arbitrarily along the beam height was considered in this study.

The beam mechanical behaviour was described by using the Ramberg-Osgood stress-strain relation. Fracture was analysed by applying the J-integral approach. Besides by using symmetric Ramberg-Osgood stress-strain curve, fracture was investigated also by Ramberg-Osgood stress-strain curve that is not symmetric with respect to tension and compression. The J-integral solutions were verified by performing elastic-plastic analyses of the strain energy release rate.

The effects of crack location and material properties on the non-linear fracture behaviour were evaluated. It was found that the material non-linearity leads to increase of the J-integral values. Therefore, the material non-linearity has to be taken into account in fracture mechanics based safety design of structural members composed by layered materials. The analytical solutions derived are very useful for parametric investigations of delamination fracture with considering the material non-linearity. The results obtained can be applied for optimisation of the beam structure with respect to fracture performance.

The present study contributes for the understanding of delamination fracture in layered beams that exhibit non-linear material behaviour.

The purpose of this paper is to systematically investigate the fluid lag phenomena and its influence in the hydraulic fracturing process, including all stages of fluid-lag evolution, the transition between different stages and their coupling with dynamic fracture propagation under common conditions.

A plane 2D model is developed to simulate the complex evolution of fluid lag during the propagation of a hydraulic fracture driven by an impressible Newtonian fluid. Based on the finite element method, a fully implicit solution scheme is proposed to solve the strongly coupled rock deformation, fluid flow and fracture propagation. Using the proposed model, comprehensive parametric studies are performed to examine the evolution of fluid lag in various geological and operational conditions.

The numerical simulations predict that the lag ratio is around 5% or even lower at the beginning stage of hydraulic fracture under practical geological conditions. With the fracture propagation, the lag ratio keeps decreasing and can be ignored in the late stage of hydraulic fracturing for typical parameter combinations. On the numerical aspect, whether the fluid lag can be ignored depends not only on the lag ratio but also on the minimum mesh size used for fluid flow. In addition, an overall mixed-mode fracture propagation factor is proposed to describe the relationship between diverse parameters and fracture curvature.

In this study, relatively simple physical models such as linear elasticity for solid, Newtonian model for fluid and linear elasticity fracture mechanics for fracture are used. The current model does not account for such effects like leak off, poroelasticity and softening of rock formations, which may also visibly affect the fluid lag depending on specific reservoir conditions.

This study helps to understand the effect of fluid lag during hydraulic fracturing processes and provides numerical experience in dealing with the fluid lag with finite element simulation.

The main aim of this study is to determine the fracture toughness and accordingly to predict the fracture initiation, crack propagation and mode of crack extension accurately in polypropylene subsea pipes subjected to internal pressure.

Tensile test was performed following the ISO 527–1 standard. An elastic-plastic constitutive model was developed based on the tensile test results, and it is implemented in the FEA model to describe the constitutive behaviour of the polypropylene material. Three-point bend tests with linear-elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) approach were conducted following ISO-13586 standard, from which the average fracture toughness of the polypropylene pipe material in crack-opening mode was found as KIc = 3.3 MPa√m. A numerical model of the experiments is developed based on the extended finite element method (XFEM), which showed markedly good agreement with the experimental results.

The validated XFEM modelling approach is utilised to illustrate its capabilities in predicting fracture initiation and crack propagation in a polypropylene subsea pipe subjected to an internal pressure containing a semi-elliptical surface crack, which agrees well with existing analytical solutions. The XFEM model is capable of predicting the crack initiation and propagation in the polypropylene pipe up to the event of leakage.

The methodology proposed herein can be utilised to assess the structural integrity and resistance to fracture of subsea plastic pipes subjected to operational loads (e.g. internal pressure).

Simple but also accurate models are needed to predict the failure response of concrete structures. Simplicity involves modelling assumptions while accuracy involves objectivity of both the experimentally identified model parameters and the numerica results. For concrete‐like heterogeneous and brittle materials, the modelling assumptions idealizing the material as a homogeneous continuum with classical linear or non‐linear behaviour, leads to some problems at the identification stage, namely the size effect phenomena. A continuum damage model, representing the non‐linear behaviour due to microcracking, is proposed here for predictive computations of structural responses. A Weibull based theory is used to determine, in a statistical sense, the value of the initial damage threshold. The essential influence of material heterogeneity on the damage evolution, is accounted for with a bi‐scale approach which is based on the idea of the non‐local continuum with local strain. It has already established that the non‐local approaches yield realistic failure predictions and the numerical results are convergent for subsequent mesh refinements. The applications presented here show the ability of the approach to predict the failure response of concrete structures without being obscured by size effect problems.