Papers by Keyword: Plastic Limit Load

Abstract: Elastic-plastic J-integral and plastic limit load were described by finite element (FE) analysis for single hole-edge crack in plate under far field biaxial load. In this paper, the effect of biaxial load ratio (from -1 to 1) on elastic-plastic J-integral and plastic limit load was studied, the values of coefficient h1 for J-integral engineering estimation formulas were given and the effect of material hardening on plastic limit load was discussed. The result obtained from this work provides reference for fracture evaluation, so it can be used in engineering accurately and expediently.

Abstract: In this paper, advanced numerical simulations of curved crack growth in the case of mul­tiple crack systems in combination with the analysis of the plastic limit load by the lower bound theorem of plasticity are presented. In order to take additionally initiated cracks during the crack growth process into account, the numerical simulation algorithm has been extended by using the Smith-Watson-Topper (SWT) parameter in combination with a linear fatigue damage accumula­tion.

Abstract: In this paper a higher order crack path simulation algorithm for multiple interacting cracks is presented using piecewise parabolic curved increments including the consideration of the plastic limit loads. For this reason, the program PCCS-2D has been extended to analyse the crack growth and the plastic limit load for each crack propagation step in a fully automatic simulation. The proposed solution algorithm provides a powerful tool for flaw assessment with the FAD proce¬dure in combination with a numerical crack path simulation. Several numerical examples are pre¬sented to show the accuracy and the efficiency of the crack path simulation including the analysis of the plastic limit loads

Abstract: Operating experience of steam generators has shown that cracks of various morphologies frequently occur in the steam generator tubes. These cracked tubes can stay in service if it is proved that the tubes have sufficient safety margin to preclude the risk of burst and leak. Therefore, integrity assessment using exact limit load solutions is very important for safe operation of the steam generators. This paper provides global and local limit load solutions for surface cracks in the steam generator tubes. Such solutions are developed based on three-dimensional (3-D) finite element analyses assuming elastic-perfectly plastic material behavior. For the crack location, both axial and circumferential surface cracks, and for each case, both external and internal cracks are considered. The resulting global and local limit load solutions are given in polynomial forms, and thus can be simply used in practical integrity assessment of the steam generator tubes, because the comparison between experimental data and FE solutions shows good agreement.