Peridynamic study on crack propagation of marine gray cast iron

Fracture failure is one of the major failure modes in offshore structures. It is significant to investi⁃ gate the crack propagation and fracture behavior of gray cast iron materials to prevent the brittle failure and structural safety of ship equipment. The classical continuum mechanics has congenital shortcomings in simu⁃ lating the fracture of solid materials while Peridynamics (PD) theory has been proved capable of simulating the spontaneous initiation and propagation of cracks. In present work, an improved PD method was proposed by considering the long-range force effect and correcting the surface effect of PD, and deducing the corre⁃ sponding fracture criterion according to the critical energy release rate. The validity and accuracy of the im⁃ proved model were illustrated by the plate deformation and the brittle plate fracture. Furthermore, the crack propagation of gray cast iron members with different prefabricated cracks was studied. It is indicated that the results of the proposed PD method coincide well with experimental ones, showing that the proposed method is feasible to predict and analyze the entire failure process of marine gray cast iron members from continuum to non continuum. © 2023 China Ship Scientific Research Center. All rights reserved.