The influence of crack closure and elasto-plastic flow on the bending of a cracked plate

The influence of crack closure and elastoplastic flow on the bending behavior of thin cracked plates is investigated using an incremental elastoplastic plate bending finite element computer program. The finite element program was developed using assumptions consistent with Kirchhoff fourth-order plate theory while the material property treatment permits general isotropic work hardening with local elastic unloading. This technique is applied to the problem of a large centrally through cracked plate subject to remote circular bending. Comparison is drawn between two cases of the bending problem. The first neglects the possibility of crack face interference with bending, and the second includes a kinematic prohibition against the crack face from passing through the symmetry plane. Results are reported which isolate the effects of elastoplastic flow and crack closure.