Papers by Keyword: Constraint Effect

Abstract: As the result of the international standardization work in Japanese IST project, ISO 27306 were published in 2009 for correction of CTOD fracture toughness for constraint loss in steel components. ISO 27306 employs an equivalent CTOD ratio based on the Weibull stress criterion, which leads to more accurate fracture assessment than the conventional fracture mechanics assessment. On the occasion of the 1st periodical review, the revision of ISO 27306 has been proposed from Japan. This paper describes the key contents of the new ISO 27306. A case study is included on the fracture assessment of a wide plate component according to FAD (failure assessment diagram) approach specified in BS 7910:2013.

Abstract: In this paper, the loading path effects on the plane strain elastic-plastic crack-tip stress field are investigated computationally. Three different loading sequences include one proportional loading and two non-proportional loading paths are applied to the modified boundary layer (MBL) model under small-scale yielding conditions. For the same external displacement field applied at the outer boundary of the MBL model, the mode I K field and T-stress field combined as the different loading paths are applied to investigate the influence of the nonproportional loading. The results show that for either the compressive or tensional T-stress, the loading path which applied K field followed by T field generates the lower crack-tip constraint. There is only slightly difference between the proportional loading path and that with the T-stress field following by K field. The results show that it is very important to include the load sequence effects in fracture analysis when dealing with nonproportional loading conditions.

Abstract: Mismatch effect of weldments is important for the assessment of structural integrity at elevated temperature. The interfacial creep crack is a common model which can be found in lots of engineering practices. Recently, the constraint effect is also considered to be significant for the evaluation of creep crack growth under high temperature. In this paper, a model for bimaterial interfacial creep crack is introduced to study the mismatch constraint effect. The stress field for bimaterial interfacial creep crack is investigated. An M^*-parameter is proposed to characterize the constraint effect caused by material mismatch for bimaterial creep crack. A comparison is made between the geometry constraint caused by specimen loading and mismatch constraint caused by inhomogeneous material.

Abstract: In the present work, three-dimensional finite element analyses have been conducted to calculate the-stress for semi-elliptical surface cracks in finite thickness plates under remote tension. The-stress solutions are presented along the crack front for cracks with values of 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 or 0.8 and values of 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 or 1.0. The current-stress solutions are suitable to be used as the constraint parameter for the fracture analysis.

Abstract: Since it is difficult to cut off large specimens from nuclear piping, generally the standard CT specimens of 1T are used to perform fracture toughness tests. However, when compared with the test result obtained from a real pipe, the results from CT specimens are been known to be very conservative. Therefore, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission recommends the use of specimens whose thickness is greater than or equal to the thickness of a real pipe for estimating the stability of crack resistance[1]. In this study, a series of fracture toughness tests were performed using various types of specimens: the standard CT, non-standard Compact Pipe, and Curved CT. The results of the tests were compared.

Abstract: In this paper the micromechanical approach to ductile fracture was applied in a study of constraint effect on crack growth initiation in mismatched welded joints. The single-edged notched bend specimens (precrack length a0/W=0.32) were experimentally and numerically analyzed. The coupled micromechanical model proposed by Gurson, Tvergaard and Needleman was used. Constraint effect was tested by varying widths of the welded joints (6, 12 and 18mm). Highstrength low-alloyed (HSLA) steel was used as the base metal in a quenched and tempered condition. The flux-cored arc-welding process in shielding gas was used. Two different fillers were selected to obtain over- and undermatched weld metal. The micromechanical parameters used in prediction of the crack growth initiation on precracked specimen were calibrated on a round smooth specimen. The difference in fracture behavior between over- and undermatched welded joints obtained in experimental results was followed by numerical computations of void volume fraction in front of the crack tip.

Abstract: Fracture toughness data from the cleavage resistance test of structural steels often show a large scatter. Geometry dependency as well as the scatter makes it difficult to evaluate appropriate fracture integrity of cracked components. To address these restrictions, several stochastic models have been proposed by Beremin group, Mudry and other researchers while each of them employs specific estimation scheme and micro-mechanical parameters. The purpose of this paper is to investigate applicability of the Weibull stress model in transition temperature regime and to quantify constraint effect among different-sized CT and PCVN specimens. The constituting parameters m and σu are determined at three temperatures by maximum likelihood estimate (MLE) technique in use of FE analysis results and experimental data of PCVN specimens. Also, failure probabilities of PCVN and CT specimens are calculated from the Weibull parameters, which are used for derivation of a prototype of toughness scale diagram. The diagram provides a technical basis to resolve transferability issue in the same material under different temperatures and constraint conditions.

Abstract: This paper quantifies the effects of geometry, the loading mode and the specimen size on fracture toughness of the API X65 steel, via plane strain finite element (FE) damage analyses using the GTN model. The validity of FE damage analyses is checked first by comparing with experimental test data for small-sized, cracked bar test. Then the analyses are extended to investigate the effects of the relative crack depth and the specimen size on fracture toughness. It is shown that fracture toughness of the API X65 steel increases with decreasing the relative crack depth and increasing the specimen size.

Abstract: This paper presents a modified Weibull stress model, which accounts for the effects of plastic strain and stress triaxiality at the crack tip region. The proposed model is applied to predict cleavage fracture in a modified A508 pressure vessel steel. It is demonstrated that the Weibull modulus (m) remains constant in the temperature range considered, while the threshold Weibull stress (σw-min) decreases with an increase in temperature due to reduction of the yield stress and the scale parameter of the Weibull model (σu) increases with temperature reflecting the influences of temperature on both material flow properties and toughness. The proposed model accurately predicts the scatter of the measured fracture toughness data and the strong effects of constraint and temperature on cleavage fracture toughness.

Abstract: Three kinds of fracture specimens are tested under different constraint conditions. One is 3PB(Three Point Bending) specimen, another is CCT(Center Cracked Tension) specimen, and the third one is called CCB(Center Cracked Bending) specimen. By the SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) observation, it is shown that the roughness of fracture surface is different from each other largely. They are the effect of constraint condition. The dimple fracture process is simulated by the finite element method using Gurson's constitutive equation, and the crack tip stress fields are obtained. The distributions of stress triaxiality components are qualitatively agree with the experimental results. The J-R curves obtained also qualitatively agree with those of experiments, and the fracture surface roughness is well simulated.