Simulation of Curved Fatigue Crack Growth with Calculation of the Plastic Limit Load

In this paper a higher order crack path simulation algorithm for multiple interacting cracks is presented using piecewise parabolic curved increments including the consideration of the plastic limit loads. For this reason, the program PCCS-2D has been extended to analyse the crack growth and the plastic limit load for each crack propagation step in a fully automatic simulation. The proposed solution algorithm provides a powerful tool for flaw assessment with the FAD proce¬dure in combination with a numerical crack path simulation. Several numerical examples are pre¬sented to show the accuracy and the efficiency of the crack path simulation including the analysis of the plastic limit loads