This book presents recent advances related to the following two topics: how mechanical fields close to material or geometrical singularities such as cracks can be determined; how failure criteria can be established according to the singularity degrees related to these discontinuities. Concerning the determination of mechanical fields close to a crack tip, the first part of the book presents most of the traditional methods in order to classify them into two major categories. The first is based on the stress field, such as the Airy function, and the second resolves the problem from functions related to displacement fields. Following this, a new method based on the Hamiltonian system is presented in great detail. Local and energetic approaches to fracture are used in order to determine the fracture parameters such as stress intensity factor and energy release rate. The second part of the book describes methodologies to establish the critical fracture loads and the crack growth criteria. Singular fields for homogeneous and non-homogeneous problems near crack tips, v-notches, interfaces, etc. associated with the crack initiation and propagation laws in elastic and elastic-plastic media, allow us to determine the basis of failure criteria. Each phenomenon studied is dealt with according to its conceptual and theoretical modeling, to its use in the criteria of fracture resistance; and finally to its implementation in terms of feasibility and numerical application. Contents 1. Introduction. Part 1: Stress Field Analysis Close to the Crack Tip 2. Review of Continuum Mechanics and the Behavior Laws. 3. Overview of Fracture Mechanics. 4. Fracture Mechanics. 5. Introduction to the Finite Element Analysis of Cracked Structures. Part 2: Crack Growth Criteria 6. Crack Propagation. 7. Crack Growth Prediction in Elements of Steel Structures Submitted to Fatigue. 8. Potential Use of Crack Propagation Laws in Fatigue Life Design.

"--Authoritative and up-to-date articles from leading experts in the field. - Teaching effective use of advanced analysis and characterization methods for the design of materials. - Examples of materials in which the design concepts have been successfully applied. The nanostructural and microstructural design of materials for a set of targeted mechanical/functional properties is now a recognized field in materials science and engineering. The importance of the nanoscale effects has been recognized in materials research for over fifty years, but it is only recently that advanced characterization and fabrication methods are enabling scientists to build structures atom-by-atom or molecule-by molecule. The understanding and control of the nanostructure has been, to a large extent, made possible by new atomistic analysis and characterization methods pioneered by transmission electron microscopy. This approach is revolutionizing the investigation of materials. This volume focuses on the effective use of advanced analysis and characterization methods for the design of materials."--Publisher's description.

Fatigue of structures and materials covers a wide scope of different topics. The purpose of the present book is to explain these topics, to indicate how they can be analyzed, and how this can contribute to the designing of fatigue resistant structures and to prevent structural fatigue problems in service. Chapter 1 gives a general survey of the topic with brief comments on the signi?cance of the aspects involved. This serves as a kind of a program for the following chapters. The central issues in this book are predictions of fatigue properties and designing against fatigue. These objectives cannot be realized without a physical and mechanical understanding of all relevant conditions. In Chapter 2 the book starts with basic concepts of what happens in the material of a structure under cyclic loads. It illustrates the large number of variables which can affect fatigue properties and it provides the essential background knowledge for subsequent chapters. Different subjects are presented in the following main parts: • Basic chapters on fatigue properties and predictions (Chapters 2–8) • Load spectra and fatigue under variable-amplitude loading (Chapters 9–11) • Fatigue tests and scatter (Chapters 12 and 13) • Special fatigue conditions (Chapters 14–17) • Fatigue of joints and structures (Chapters 18–20) • Fiber-metal laminates (Chapter 21) Each chapter presents a discussion of a speci?c subject.

The objective of these proceedings was to provide a platform for the exchange of information on the design, construction and operation of fusion experiments. The technology which is being developed for the next step devices and fusion reactors was also covered.

Many people find the concept of fracture and damage mechanics to be somewhat problematic, mainly because, until recently, close attention in mechanics was focused especially on the strength and resistance of materials. In this sense, to speak of fracture is as uncomfortable for some as it is to speak of a deadly disease. In confronting and preventing a fatal disease, one must understand its complexity, symptoms, and behavior; by the same token, in securing the strength of an engineering structure, one must understand the reasons and type of its potential failure. This book will provide knowledge and insights on this matter to its readers.

It is weH known that the traditional failure criteria cannot adequately explain failures which occur at a nominal stress level considerably lower than the ultimate strength of the material. The current procedure for predicting the safe loads or safe useful life of a structural member has been evolved around the discipline oflinear fracture mechanics. This approach introduces the concept of a crack extension force which can be used to rank materials in some order of fracture resistance. The idea is to determine the largest crack that a material will tolerate without failure. Laboratory methods for characterizing the fracture toughness of many engineering materials are now available. While these test data are useful for providing some rough guidance in the choice of materials, it is not clear how they could be used in the design of a structure. The understanding of the relationship between laboratory tests and fracture design of structures is, to say the least, deficient. Fracture mechanics is presently at astandstill until the basic problems of scaling from laboratory models to fuH size structures and mixed mode crack propagation are resolved. The answers to these questions require some basic understanding ofthe theory and will not be found by testing more specimens. The current theory of fracture is inadequate for many reasons. First of aH it can only treat idealized problems where the applied load must be directed normal to the crack plane.

The aim of this book is to investigate and explain the rapid advances in the characterization of high temperature crack growth behaviour which have been made in recent years, with reference to industrial applications. Complicated mathematics has been minimized with the emphasis placed instead on finding solutions using simplified procedures without the need for complex numerical analysis.

Failures of many mechanical components in service result from fatigue. The cracks which grow may either originate from some pre-existing macroscopic defect, or, if the component is of high integrity but highly stressed, a region of localized stress concentration. In turn, such concentrators may be caused by some minute defect, such as a tiny inclusion, or inadvertent machining damage. Another source of surface damage which may exist between notionally 'bonded' components is associated with minute relative motion along the interface, brought about usually be cyclic tangential loading. Such fretting damage is quite insidious, and may lead to many kinds of problems such as wear, but it is its influence on the promotion of embryo cracks with which we are concerned here. When the presence of fretting is associated with decreased fatigue performance the effect is known as fretting fatigue. Fretting fatigue is a subject drawing equally on materials science and applied mechanics, but it is the intention in this book to concentrate attention entirely on the latter aspects, in a search for the quantification of the influence of fretting on both crack nucleation and propagation. There have been very few previous texts in this area, and the present volume seeks to cover five principal areas; (a) The modelling of contact problems including partial slip under tangentialloading, which produces the surface damage. (b) The modelling of short cracks by rigorous methods which deal effectively with steep stress gradients, kinking and closure. (c) The experimental simulation of fretting fatigue.