Numerical analysis on fracture behavior of a single-edge-cracked plate subjected to electromagnetic force

A strong electromagnetic force due to a plasma disruption may damage the structural integrity of fusion reactor components. Since these components usually consist of thin plates, out-of-plane stress and deformation analyses are important. Besides, some components will inevitably contain cracks under the severe disruption conditions. In this study, first, an eddy current analysis on a single-edge-cracked plate was numerically conducted with the use of the magnetic vector potential method. As a result, the eddy current has a singularity at crack tip and its magnitude gradually increases with increasing crack length. Second, a static elastic bending analysis was conducted under three different mechanical boundary conditions. The neighborhood of the crack tip is deformed in a rather complicated manner, strongly depending on the type of boundary condition. The mode II and mode III stress intensities were significant when compared with mode I stress intensity. According to the definition of equivalent stress intensity, the possibility of crack initiation was discussed for three different boundary conditions.