Side-groove effects in three-dimensional small-scale yielding: A load and thickness-scaling model

This study investigates the influence of side grooves on near-front fields that drive cleavage fracture processes in ferritic steels under 3D small-scale yielding conditions. High-fidelity, finite-strain analyses of boundary-layer models for initially straight crack fronts provide elastic–plastic fields. Numerical solutions demonstrate that non-dimensional, self-similar scaling of crack-front fields for plane-sided specimens also holds for the side-grooved configurations. Furthermore, Weibull stress values exhibit a non-dimensional, thickness scaling controlled by a single non-dimensional parameter. This thickness scaling holds for low-to-high hardening rates typical of ferritic steels under imposed loading levels that range in a 3D setting from near plane-strain to near plane-stress conditions.