Crack-Tip Constraint and Fracture Toughness of an Inner-Surface Crack Under Thermal Shock

Author(s):  
Toshiyuki Meshii

This paper considered the crack-tip constraint and fracture toughness of a semi-elliptical surface crack inside a hollow cylinder that experiences loss of coolant accident (LOCA). The magnitude of the crack-tip constraint was measured by evaluating the in and out of plane T-stress; i.e., T11. Results showed that T11 was negative at the deepest point, and that conservatism can be expected in using the fracture toughness obtained from standard fracture toughness test specimens. Finally, this conservatism was estimated quantitatively by applying a framework to correlate test specimen crack depth effect on fracture toughness with T-stresses.

Author(s):  
Dieter Siegele ◽  
Igor Varfolomeyev ◽  
Kim Wallin ◽  
Gerhard Nagel

Within the framework of the European research project VOCALIST, centre cracked tension, CC(T), specimens made of an RPV steel were tested and analysed to quantify the influence of local stress state on fracture toughness. The CC(T) specimens demonstrate a significant loss of crack tip constraint resulting in a considerable increase in fracture toughness as compared to standard fracture mechanics specimens. So, the master curve reference temperature, To, determined on the basis of CC(T) tests performed in this study is about 43°C lower than To obtained on standard C(T) specimens. Finite element analyses of the tests revealed that the above experimental finding is in a good agreement with the empirical correlations between the reference temperature shift and the crack tip constraint as characterised by the T-stress or Q parameter (Wallin, 2001; Wallin, 2004). The results of this work are consistent with a number of other tests performed within the VOCALIST project and contribute to the validation of engineering methods for the crack assessment in components taking account of constraint.


Author(s):  
R. S. Kulka ◽  
A. H. Sherry

During fracture toughness testing of C(T) specimens, an important assumption is that the test specimen is highly constrained. This is ensured by testing a deeply cracked specimen, with in-plane and out-of-plane dimensions that are sufficient to guarantee an appropriate level of crack tip stress triaxiality. This condition guarantees that high-constraint fracture toughness values are derived, conservative for use in standard fracture mechanics assessments. In reality, many components have small out-of-plane dimensions (small thicknesses). This often causes a reduction in crack tip constraint of a sufficient amount to increase the effective fracture toughness of the components. However, there is currently limited understanding as to the magnitude of the benefits that could be claimed from out-of-plane constraint loss. Finite element and damage modelling of thin C(T) specimens under different loading conditions has been undertaken, looking at the effects of loss of out-of-plane constraint, to help validate the results of an on-going testing programme. When available, data from testing of thin C(T) specimens could allow the parameters of the damage model, based upon a ductile criterion, to be calibrated. Material resistance to fracture under different situations has been determined, leading to a correlation of toughness to the constraint condition for a nominal set of material parameters.


2006 ◽  
Vol 110 ◽  
pp. 89-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nam Su Huh ◽  
Ludwig Stumpfrock ◽  
Xaver Schuler ◽  
Eberhard Roos

The master curve has evolved into a mature technology for characterizing the fracture toughness transition of ferritic steels. However, it is well known that the master curve reference temperature (To) values estimated from small laboratory specimen may be biased low due to loss of crack-tip constraint. To quantify such variations of To resulting from differences of crack-tip constraint of testing specimen, two-parameter fracture mechanics approaches are employed in the present study. In this context, fracture toughness test and 3-dimensional finite element (FE) analysis for several standard and nonstandard test specimens are performed to quantify relationship between variations of To and constraint parameters and to find best constraint parameter representing effect of crack-tip constraint on To values evidently. Based on testing and present FE results, To and constraint parameter loci are constructed and engineering To correlation models considering crack-tip constraint are suggested


Author(s):  
Xian-Kui Zhu ◽  
Tom McGaughy

Fracture toughness is an important material property in describing material resistance against fracture with a point value or in the format of a resistance curve. For ductile materials, the commonly used fracture parameters are the J-integral and the crack-tip opening displacement (CTOD, or δ). ASTM E1820 provides standard procedures for determining the JIc, δIc, J-R curve and δ-R curve using bending specimens with deep cracks. This usually leads to high crack-tip constraint conditions and conservative fracture resistance curves. Actual cracks found in pipelines and welds are often shallow and dominated by tensile forces, resulting in low constraint conditions and elevated resistance curves. Thus the standard resistance curves can be overly conservative for a shallow crack. To obtain realistic fracture toughness values to meet the practical needs for pipelines, different test methods have been developed using a single edge-notched tension (SENT) specimen. This includes the multiple specimen method, the single specimen method, the J-R curve test procedure, and the δ-R curve test procedure. This paper presents a critical technical review of existing fracture toughness test methods and procedures using SENT specimens, with discussions on the toughness estimation equation, key parameter calibration, rotation correction, and test procedure limitation. Historical efforts related to the SENT testing and applications of ASTM fracture test standards to the SENT specimens are also reviewed briefly.


Author(s):  
Toshiyuki Meshii ◽  
Tomohiro Tanaka

This paper considered the test specimen thickness effect on the fracture toughness of a material Jc, in the transition temperature region, for CT and 3PB specimen. Framework to correlate test specimen thickness effect on fracture toughness with T33-stress, which is the out-of-plane elastic crack tip constraint parameter, was proposed. The results seemed to indicate a possibility of improving the existing methods to correlate the fracture toughness obtained by test specimen with the toughness of actual cracks found in the structure, in use of T33–stress.


Author(s):  
Hwee-Seung Lee ◽  
Nam-Su Huh ◽  
Ki-Seok Kim

One important element of fracture mechanics assessment in pipelines is how to determine the relevant fracture toughness (J-resistance or CTOD-resistance (crack-tip opening displacement)) for nonlinear fracture mechanics analysis. The general practice using a standard fracture mechanics specimen is known to often provide conservative estimates of toughness due to differences in crack-tip constraints between standard specimens and actual components. To improve the accuracy of predicting pipeline failure, various non-standard fracture mechanics specimens have been suggested over the past few decades. Among the several non-standard test specimens, a curved wide-plate in tension is often employed to predict fracture behavior of cracked components, for instance, in gas transportation pipelines. In order to show validity of a curved wide-plate in tension, the fracture toughness values from a full-scale pipeline test have been compared with those from a curved wide-plate in tension, and crack-tip constraints of a curved wide-plate in tension have also been compared with those of actual pipelines or other specimens during last decades. It is well known that a crack-tip constraint of test specimens, including curved wide-plates in tension, depends on many geometric and material parameters, for instance, crack length, thickness and width of specimen and material’s hardening characteristic. Thus, in order to obtain relevant fracture resistance from a curved wide-plate in tension representing accurate crack-tip constraint of pipeline of interest, variations of crack-tip constraints of curved wide-plates in tension according to various in-plane and out-of-plane constraint conditions should systematically be quantified. In the present study, systematic 3-dimensional finite element analyses attempt to investigate the effect of in-plane and out-of-plane parameters on crack-tip constraints of a curved wide-plate in tension.


Author(s):  
R. S. Kulka

During fracture toughness testing of SEN(B) specimens, an important assumption is that the test specimen is highly constrained. This assumption is ensured by the testing of a deeply cracked specimen, with in-plane and out-of-plane dimensions that are sufficient to guarantee an appropriate level of crack tip stress triaxiality. This condition guarantees that high-constraint fracture toughness values are derived, conservative for use in standard fracture mechanics assessments. In reality, many components have small in-plane or out-of-plane dimensions. It is considered that this could cause a reduction in crack tip constraint of a sufficient amount to increase the effective fracture toughness of the components. However, there is currently limited understanding as to the magnitude of the benefits that could be claimed. Finite element analysis of various thin-width SEN(B) specimens has been undertaken. The knowledge gained can be used to develop fracture mechanics methodology for the testing of thin-width specimens and the subsequent derivation of appropriate toughness values.


Author(s):  
Zheng Liu ◽  
Xu Chen ◽  
Xin Wang

In the present paper, three-dimensional clamped SENT specimens, which is one of the most widely used low-constraint and less-conservative specimen, are analyzed by using a crack compliance analysis approach and extensive finite element analysis. Considering the test standard (BS8571) recommended specimen sizes, the daylight to width ratio, H/W, is 10.0, the relative crack depth, a/W, is varied by 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 or 0.6 and the relative plate thickness, B/W, is chosen by 1.0, 2.0 or 4.0, respectively. Complete solutions of fracture mechanics parameters, including stress intensity factor (K), in-plane T-stress (T11) and out-of-plane T-stress (T33) are calculated, and the results obtained from above two methods have a good agreement. Moreover, the combination of the effects of a/W and B/W on the stress intensity factor K, T11 and T33 stress are thus illustrated.


2004 ◽  
Vol 126 (4) ◽  
pp. 419-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nam-Su Huh ◽  
Yun-Jae Kim ◽  
Jae-Boong Choi ◽  
Young-Jin Kim ◽  
Chang-Ryul Pyo

One important element of the Leak-Before-Break analysis of nuclear piping is how to determine relevant fracture toughness (or the J-resistance curve) for nonlinear fracture mechanics analysis. The practice to use fracture toughness from a standard C(T) specimen is known to often give conservative estimates of toughness. To improve the accuracy of predicting piping failure, this paper proposes a new method to determine fracture toughness using a nonstandard testing specimen, curved wide-plate in tension. To show validity of the proposed curved wide-plate test, the J-resistance curve from the full-scale pipe test is compared with that from the curved wide-plate test and that from C(T) specimen. It is shown that the J-resistance curve from the curved wide-plate tension test is similar to, but that from the C(T) specimen is lower than, the J-resistance curve from the full-scale pipe test. Further validation is performed by investigating crack-tip constraint conditions via detailed three-dimensional finite element analyses, which shows that the crack-tip constraint condition in the curved wide-plate tension specimen is indeed similar to that in the full-scale pipe under bending.


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