A benchmark elastic–plastic finite element analysis of a plate with a surface crack under bending load for the reference stress method

This work presents an extended study of reference stress method (RSM) investigation for plate bending problems. A benchmark study of J-integral evaluation was conducted by several research institutions under the subcommittees of FDF-II and FDF-III (low cycle Fatigue and Ductile Fracture under cyclic loading), organized by the Atomic Energy Research Committee of the Japan Welding Engineering Society (JWES). Tokyo University of Science (Team TUS) and Hiroshima University (Team HU) performed fracture mechanics analyses using the finite element method (FEM), and Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation (Team TOSHIBA) conducted J value evaluation of RSM schemes. Surface crack problems were analyzed over a range of crack depth to plate thickness ratios and crack aspect ratios. Strain hardening was considered using Power law and Swift law. The benchmark FEM results were carefully investigated and verified. The J values of RSM schemes were examined comparing with the J-integral values of FEM. • Benchmark FEM computations were conducted for SIF and J-integral evaluations. • Plate with surface crack subjected to bending was considered. • Power law and Swift law hardenings were used in elastic–plastic fracture analyses. • Elastic–plastic J-integral values of FEM were compared with J value of RSM scheme.