Crack front fields in elastic-plastic solids: An overview of recent 3D numerical results

In this paper, an overview of some recent numerical results of three-dimensional crack front fields in elastic-plastic solids is presented. The 3D crack configurations considered is the through-thickness cracks in thin plates. Discussion include 3D characteristics of elastic-plastic near-front fields under mode I, mixed mode (I and II) loading conditions and effects of uniaxial and biaxial loading. These results serve to illustrate several important features associated with stress and strain distributions near these crack fronts and provide the foundation for understanding of ductile failure mechanisms of cracks in 3D structural components under biaxial/multi-axial loading conditions.