Analysis of toughness on notched specimens by volumetric method

In the present work, an analysis of influence of the notch on the toughness of material K_I is presented. A notched plate made out of structural steel is considered and subjected to uniformly tensile loading. Different values of angle and notch radius were selected. The material is assumed to be elastic perfectly plastic and the analysis was made according to a local approach defined by the volumetric approach. The parameters of the volumetric approach are the effective distance, effective stress and relative stress gradient and are determined by using the finite element method (F.E.M). The variation of the weight function affects the calculation of effective stress. The results obtained are confronted with models of Irwin and Creager - Paris. The results obtained show that for small radii, the stress intensity factor calculated by the weight function unit is close to those obtained by the models of Irwin and Creager-Paris. The increasing in the notch angle influences on the assessment of fracture toughness.