A comparison of cohesive zone modeling and classical fracture mechanics based on near tip stress field

A mode III crack with a cohesive zone in a power-law hardening material is studied under small scale yielding conditions. The cohesive law follows a softening path with the peak traction at the start of separation process. The stress and strain fields in the plastic zone, and the cohesive traction and separation displacement in the cohesive zone are obtained. The results show that for a modest hardening material (with a hardening exponent N = 0.3), the stress distribution in a large portion of the plastic zone is significantly altered with the introduction of the cohesive zone if the peak cohesive traction is less than two times yield stress, which implies the disparity in terms of the fracture prediction between the classical approach of elastic–plastic fracture mechanics and the cohesive zone approach. The stress distributions with and without the cohesive zone converge when the peak cohesive traction becomes infinitely large. A qualitative study on the equivalency between the cohesive zone approach and the classical linear elastic fracture mechanics indicates that smaller cracks require a higher peak cohesive traction than that for longer cracks if similar fracture initiations are to be predicted by the two approaches.