Modeling of the Onset, Propagation, and Interaction of Multiple Cracks Generated From Corrosion Pits by Using Peridynamics

High stress regions around corrosion pits can lead to crack nucleation and propagation. In fact, in many engineering applications, corrosion pits act as precursor to cracking, but prediction of structural damage has been hindered by lack of understanding of the process by which a crack develops from a pit and limitations in visualization and measurement techniques. An experimental approach able to accurately quantify the stress and strain field around corrosion pits is still lacking. In this regard, numerical modeling can be helpful. Several numerical models, usually based on finite element method (FEM), are available for predicting the evolution of long cracks. However, the methodology for dealing with the nucleation of damage is less well developed, and, often, numerical instabilities arise during the simulation of crack propagation. Moreover, the popular assumption that the crack has the same depth as the pit at the point of transition and by implication initiates at the pit base has no intrinsic foundation. A numerical approach is required to model nucleation and propagation of cracks without being affected by any numerical instability and without assuming crack initiation from the base of the pit. This is achieved in the present study, where peridynamics (PD) theory is used in order to overcome the major shortcomings of the currently available numerical approaches. Pit-to-crack transition phenomenon is modeled, and nonconventional and more effective numerical frameworks that can be helpful in failure analysis and in the design of new fracture-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials are presented.