Hicham Laribou^1,, Chadia Qotni²

In the industrial field, the control of the structural integrity of a cracked metal part remains a capital maneuver in the prediction of failures in order to accurately define the functional lifetime of these parts. In this case, the Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) plays a central role to assess the damaging of a crack in a structure under a given loading. The purpose of this paper is to examine and check the analytical calculation of the SIF through an empirical approach of the form factor with those computing in mode I, using in the linear elastic domain, by the finite element method with ABAQUS software for two different cracked sections. The first defect studied in this work has a form of a circular section with a central crack under uniform tensile load. The second defect has a form of elliptical section with a central crack under uniform tensile load. The form factor function Y used, remains the main element for the analytical stress intensity factor determination. For each form of section, the obtained results were examined by comparing with the results given by the ABAQUS software. Indeed, after examination, the model was finally approved and validated for the circular section, on the other hand, it couldn’t be validated and adopted unfortunately in the elliptical case.

stress intensity factor, form factor function, mode I, rice integral, finite element method