Study of influence of various loading parameters on crack propagation by using Cohesive Zone Modeling (CZM) approach

Cohesive Zone Modeling (CZM) is one of the most promising tools to investigate nonlinear crack propagation in present time. In this study, CZM approach is used to investigate the influence of various type of loading parameters in nonlinear crack propagation. These parameters include loading velocity, mass scaling, maximum strength of cohesive element and displacement jump. For this investigation, we used DYNA3D as a dynamic crack simulation code. Simulation outcomes were compared with the experimental results, where an experimental observation for Arcan test Mode I case was made in MTS machine. Note that, the experiment was performed in quasi-static mode. As DYNA3D is used to simulate dynamic crack propagation, this comparison reflects the deviation of crack parameters for quasi-static and dynamic crack propagation. Finally we checked, whether DYNA3D can be used for quasi-static crack propagation or not.