Fracture prediction of thin plates under hemi-spherical punch with calibration and experimental verification

The response of thin clamped plates subjected to static punch indentation is investigated experimentally, analytically and numerically to determine the onset of fracture. The accumulated equivalent plastic strain with stress triaxiality as a weighing function is introduced as ductile fracture criterion in the finite-element simulation and analytical prediction. The fracture criterion was calibrated by finite-element simulations of uniaxial tensile tests. Based on the calibration, and calculated distributions and histories of stress and strain, the critical location, and penetration to fracture were predicted within 5-10% accuracy for three punch radii. The plots of force-penetration and locations of fracture initiation in the static punch indentation tests were compared with finite-element simulations and analytical approximations showing good agreement. The transverse deflection profiles of the plates at the point of fracture obtained numerically were shown to agree well with the closed-form solution derived by taking into account a variable stress ratio and varying stress triaxiality. The strain distribution along the plate radius is influenced by the friction between the interfaces of punch and plate. By changing the friction coefficient, the fracture-forming limit diagram was constructed numerically. The present procedure can replace the time-consuming experimental technique in which the strain path is controlled by changing the radius of a cut off. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.