The effects of residual stress on elastic-plastic fracture propagation and stability

Abstract Residual stresses in materials affect their resistance to the initiation of fracture and to subsequent crack growth. Using full-field strain measurements and finite element analysis we demonstrate that the effect of residual stress on a material's crack growth resistance curve can be understood using elastic-plastic fracture mechanics. It is shown that Lei's modified J -integral formulation ( J mod ) is a good predictor of the load vs crack extension behaviour of an elastic-plastic material containing residual stresses.