The effect of T-stress on crack-tip plastic zones under cyclic mixed-mode loading conditions

In this paper, the influence of T-stress on crack-tip plastic zones under mixed-mode I and II loading conditions under cyclic loading is examined. The crack-tip stress field is defined in terms of the ranges of mixed-mode stress intensity factors and the T-stress using William's series expansion. The crack-tip stress field is incorporated into the Von Mises yield criteria to develop an expression that determines the cyclic crack-tip plastic zone. Using the resultant expression, the cyclic plastic zone is obtained for various combinations of mode II to mode I stress intensity factor ratios and levels of T-stress. For the purpose of demonstrating the significance of the T-stress, this paper further analyses the plastic zone size for center cracked plate (CCP) specimen subjected to bi-axial mixed-mode cyclic loading. Copyrigh