Investigation of Stress Intensity Factor at Compact Tension Specimen

Failure of structure and component happen due to propagation of crack. Determination
of stress intensity factor is the effective tool to improve safety and reliability of the
structure that containing cracks. Nowadays, there are various methods to investigate
stress intensity factor such as experimental method, numerical method and empirical
calculation. In this project, the author investigate stress intensity factor by using two
methods which are numerical method (ANSYS) and empirical calculation at compact
tension specimen. But due to complexity and high consuming time by using both of the
methods, new method have to develop to solve these problems. So, the main objective
of this project is to plot graphs that can be used to interpret value of stress intensity
factor for different dimension of thickness, widths and cracks length for both methods.
To achieve this objective the author had used numerical method based on ANSYS
software and empirical calculation based on ASTM E399-90. For numerical method,
the author utilized KSCON and KCALC command while in empirical method the
author applied limit of validity by referring to ASTM E399-90. Both of the result
compared and plotted in graphs. As an outcome, these graphs can be used to interpret
stress intensity factor for both of the methods efficiently.