Evaluation of crack-closure by second harmonic thermoelastic stress analysis

The work illustrates a new experimental approach to evaluate crack-closure in samples undergoing Fatigue Crack-Growing. Crack-closure leaves a peculiar signature on both amplitude and phase of the harmonic of the temperature signal at twice the loading frequency (Second Harmonic), due to the periodic nature of the internal elastic compression stresses. Thermoelastic Stress Analysis (TSA) is successfully applied to reveal such signatures on Single-Edge-Notched steel samples. A methodology is also proposed to evaluate the Crack-Opening-Load from temperature data. The work finally explores the influence of crack-closure on crack-tip identification and on the evaluation of the Stress Intensity Factor from TSA