Effect of plate width-thickness ratio on elastic-plastic J-integral of semi-elliptical surface cracked plate under tension: 1. Limitation of existing J-integral estimation equation

In this study, the elastic-plastic J of a tension-loaded plate with a semi-elliptical surface crack was calculated using finite element (FE) analysis. The results were then compared with those obtained using the existing J-integral estimation equation. To analyze the effect of the plate width-to-thickness ratio on J, a wide range of plate width-to-thickness ratio were considered. It was found that the existing estimation equation can predict J-integral within a small margin of error when the plate width-to-thickness is small. However, as the plate width-to-thickness ratio increases, the margin of error increases up to 3.5 times the estimated J.