A Finite Element Modeling and Analysis of CTS Specimen for Three-Dimensional I-II Mixed Mode Fracture

A finite element model of compact tear specimen (CTS) is built for the study of three-dimensional I-II mixed mode fracture. Since the three dimensional effects of load combination and the thickness are concerned, the model of the specimen is built in 5 thickness, and the numerical analysis is taken at seven different angles which is span from 00 to 900 with a step of 150. The paper focuses on computer-based techniques used for modeling and optimizing the CTS specimen. The geometry and FEM model of CTS test system are created; the stress analysis of the system is performed by MSC. Patran/Nastran. Some of the stress contour is given to show the typical elastic-plastic analysis results at seven angles; the influence of the thickness and loading angles to the stress is illustrated. The result shows that the model is efficient in numerical analysis with a lot of calculating time save.