Assessment of Crack Growth from a Cold Worked Hole by Coupled FEM-DBEM Approach

The main objective of the present work is the study of the effect of residual stresses, induced by a cold working split sleeve process, on the fatigue life of a holed specimen. The crack propagation is simulated by a two-parameters crack growth model, based on the usage of two threshold material parameters (DKth and Kmax,th) and on the allowance for residual stresses, introduced on the crack faces by material plastic deformations. The coupled usage of Finite Element Method (FEM) and Dual Boundary Element Method (DBEM) is proposed to simulate the crack propagation, in order to take advantage of the main capabilities of the two methods. The procedure is validated by comparison with experimental results (crack growth rates and crack path) available from literature, in order to assess its capability to predict the crack growth retardation phenomena