Fully plastic J-integral solutions for surface cracked plates under biaxial loading

In this paper, surface cracked plates under biaxial tension are studied. Three-dimensional elastic–plastic finite element analyses have been carried out to calculate the J-integral for surface cracked plate for a wide range of geometry, biaxiality and material properties. Fully plastic J-integral solutions along the front of the surface cracks are presented for Ramberg–Osgood power law hardening material of n = 3, 5, 10 and 15. Geometries considered are a/c = 0.2, 1.0 and a/t = 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 and the biaxial ratios of 0, 0.5 and 1. Based on these results, the J-integral along the crack front for general elastic–plastic loading conditions can be estimated using the EPRI scheme. These solutions are suitable for fracture analyses for surface cracked plates under biaxial loading.