MIE1303F

Engineering Fracture Mechanics

This is a foundation course in the mechanics of cracked bodies. Both Airy's stress function and Muskhelishvili's complex potentials as well as the constitutive equations governing the elasto-plastic behaviour of flawed bodies will be examined. A detailed description of the analytical, numerical and experimental techniques adopted in the determination of Irwin's stress intensity factor, Rice's J-integral and Well's COD will all be examined. Furthermore, the pertinent aspects of fatigue crack growth and the different fatigue design philosophies will be covered.