Simulation of crack growth for metal plates with holes based on cohesive zone model

Abstract Hole defects are very common in metal plates. The propagation of cracks in engineering structural members will be affected by the holes of the members, which will not only change the propagation direction of cracks, but also have the ability to limit the growth of cracks. Therefore, the study of material fracture crack propagation caused by the distribution of holes and other factors under loading conditions has become a problem that needs to be considered in structural design. The cohesive zone model (CZM) can effectively avoid the singularity problem of crack tip stress when simulating crack growth, and at the same time can clearly show the crack growth path. Based on exponential CZM, the finite element analysis of tensile test for metallic materials with hole defects was carried out. The crack propagation law under constant load was obtained. It was proved that CZM could simulate the crack propagation in metallic materials with holes more accurately. The influence of the pore size, shape, distribution on the crack propagation is discussed. The results show that the smaller the distance difference between holes, the greater the supporting reaction force. The smaller the radius of the hole, the higher the fracture toughness and the maximum supporting reaction force of the metal plate. And it also can be seen that as the number of holes increases, the maximum supporting reaction force and fracture toughness of the metal plate decrease. The use of staggered holes distribution has greater supporting force and better toughness. The research results of this paper provide a theoretical basis and reference for investigating the propagation and propagation of cracks in the process of damage and failure of materials and for structural design and performance evaluation of engineering materials.