Probabilistic Failure Assessment of a Complex Nozzle Structure With Flaw Defect Based on FITNET Procedure

Author(s):  
Yan Wang ◽  
Yan-Wei Wang ◽  
Hanxin Chen ◽  
Linwei Ma

A probabilistic failure assessment based on the fracture and fatigue modules of European FITNET procedure is presented in this work. Analysis of the leak probability of a complex nozzle structure with postulated flaw defect under thermal mechanical loading is performed. Crack growth is calculated using FITNET fatigue module, in which the crack driving force ΔKeq considering mixed-mode load is applied. For the structural safety evaluation, the failure assessment diagram (FAD) within the frame of FITNET fracture module is utilized with the parameter Keff combing KI and KII. The fracture mechanical parameters are calculated using finite element (FE) method because of the complex geometry and load conditions. To meet the needs of probabilistic analyses, formulas calculating crack driving force are developed specific for this nozzle structure through nonlinear regression based on the FE results. With an initial crack depth of 5 mm, the nozzle failure probability in form of leak comes to 1.84×10−4 in next fifty years. The good agreement of the results of Monte Carlo simulation and stratified sampling technique confirms that the crack growth parameter C and the initial crack shape ratio c/a have considerable effect on the structural failure probability.

Author(s):  
Christopher Brokmann ◽  
Stefan Kolling ◽  
Jens Schneider

Abstract In the present work, subcritical crack growth in soda–lime silicate glass is investigated under different environmental conditions. Crack growth parameters as a function of temperature and humidity were determined by dynamic fatigue tests, which has been verified by using the in-situ method of filming crack growth during experiments. The specimens were pre-damaged for constant initial crack lengths in all specimens using the Vickers indentation test. The determined parameters were compared with those from literature in order to discuss existing deviations of sub-critical crack growth parameters in literature. These deviations may be caused by environmental conditions and different chemical compositions of the glass. Arrest lines were used to determine the ratio of crack width to crack depth in Vickers indented specimens. For the initial crack depth, images of fracture surfaces were taken using an scanning electron microscope. Furthermore, the influence of humidity and temperature on the failure stress of unindented specimens with a constant initial crack length was simulated.


2018 ◽  
Vol 165 ◽  
pp. 09002
Author(s):  
Désiré Tchoffo Ngoula ◽  
Michael Vormwald

The purpose of the present contribution is to predict the fatigue life of welded joints by using the effective cyclic J-integral as crack driving force. The plasticity induced crack closure effects and the effects of welding residual stresses are taken into consideration. Here, the fatigue life is regarded as period of short fatigue crack growth. The node release technique is used to perform finite element based crack growth analyses. For fatigue lives calculations, the effective cyclic J-integral is employed in a relation similar to the Paris (crack growth) equation. For this purpose, a specific code was written for the determination of the effective cyclic J-integral for various lifetime relevant crack lengths. The effects of welding residual stresses on the crack driving force and the calculated fatigue lives are investigated. Results reveal that the influence of residual stresses can be neglected only for large load amplitudes. Finally, the predicted fatigue lives are compared with experimental data: a good accordance between both results is achieved.


In a previous paper a natural mapping was noted from the ( a, J ep ) diagram of R-curve analysis into the ( L r , K r ) failure assessment diagram (FAD) of the R6-revision 3 procedure. Assuming that J ep is obtained by a deformation theory of plasticity, the analytical expression for this mapping is given and used to derive the images in the FAD of the applied J ep curves and of the R-curve. If this mapping is sufficiently smooth, it may be used to provide an alternative proof that the critical R6-revision 3 load locus touches the R-curve image (RCI) when the crack extension and the load are the same as those predicted by R-curve analysis. The natural mapping may not always be 1:1 and this is illustrated by considering the example of a family of linear R-curves. The relations between the various other functions used in the FAD and R-curve analysis are studied analytically. In particular it is shown how to derive from any single failure assessment line (FAL) on which the assessment point is assumed to move during crack growth, either the implied R-curve (IRC) or, alternatively, the implied applied J ep curve (IAJC). Further comments are made on the internal consistency or conservatism of analyses of ductile tearing instability which use a single FAL on which the assessment point is assumed to move during crack growth, such as those characteristic of level 3 of PD6493 and options 1 and 2 of R6-revision 3. The method for testing the consistency or conservatism of an FAD with a single FAL which involves the calculation of the IAJC requires that the function J ep = j ep ( a, L ) of the structure be known for a specific restricted range of a and L only. In contrast, the deduction of the IRC requires a knowledge of the j ep ( a, L ) over a wider domain. It is emphasized that the assessment of conservatism throughout is not absolute but only relative to the predictions of R-curve analysis. As in the previous paper, the discussion is given in terms of the J based parameters. But the conclusions hold equally well for an FAD based on any other parameters describing crack driving force and crack resistance.


Author(s):  
Ying Xiong ◽  
Zengliang Gao ◽  
Junichi Katsuta ◽  
Takeshi Sakiyama

Most of the previous parameters that utilized as a crack driving force were established in modifying the parameter Kop in Elber’s effective SIF range (ΔKeff = Kmax–Kop). This paper focuses on the physical meaning of compliance changes caused by plastic deformation at the crack tip, the test was carried out for structural steel under constant amplitude loading, and differences of several parameter ΔKeff in literature are analyzed quantificationally. The effect of actual stress amplitude at the crack tip on fatigue crack growth is investigated, and improved two-parameter driving force model ΔKdrive(=Kmax)n(ΔK^)1−n) has been proposed. Experimental data for several different types of materials taken from literature were used in the analyses. Presented results indicate that the parameter ΔKdrive is equally effective or better than ΔK(=Kmax-Kmin), ΔKeff(=Kmax-Kop) and ΔK*(=(Kmax)α(ΔK+)1−α) in correlating and predicting the R-ratio effects on fatigue crack growth rate.


In two previous papers a natural mapping was noted between the ( a, J ep ) diagram of R-curve analysis and the ( L r , K r ) failure assessment diagram (FAD) of the R6-revision 3 procedure. In these papers it was assumed that the applied crack driving force J ep was obtained by a deformation theory of plasticity and so could be treated as a function of its arguments. Here the analysis is generalised to consider the situation where J ep is not a function but a functional of its arguments, as in the flow theory of plasticity. As in I the discussion has been given in terms of the J based parameters. But the conclusions hold equally well for any other parameters describing crack driving force and crack resistance. A unique R-curve image (the RCl) in the FAD can still be established in a natural way. Moreover, if this RCl is used as the failure assessment line (FAL), the treatments of ductile tearing instability in R-curve analysis and in the FAD are still equivalent. The interesting situation then arises, however, that the tangency condition can be defined in the FAD but not in R-curve analysis, because in the latter the usual applied J ep curves do not exist. Some difficulties in using the FAD in this more general situation are discussed. An FAL can be obtained when J ep is a function of its arguments by considering a sequence of RCl curves for similar structures of ever increasing size and this procedure can be extended to the situation where J ep is a functional. The R-curve plays a central role in the argument when J ep is a function and even more so when J ep is a functional. In the latter situation, the analysis rests essentially on the consideration of increments of crack driving force and fracture resistance and it is suggested that a fracture mechanics based on the values of these increments rather than on the values of the parameters themselves might be developed.


Author(s):  
B. Shailesh Kamath ◽  
A.R. Anilchandra ◽  
T. Sivaranjani ◽  
K. Badari Narayana ◽  
C.M. Manjunath

Fatigue Crack Growth (FCG) behaviour in a Single-Edge-Notched Tension (SENT) specimen of 2024-T3 aluminium alloy under a standard mini-FALSTAFF spectrum load sequence was experimentally determined. Further, the FCG behaviour was predicted using cycle-by-cycle method and compared with experimental results. Prediction procedure involved are rain-flow counting of fatigue load cycles, estimation of crack driving force for each of the counted cycle and prediction of crack extension per cycle from constant amplitude crack growth rate equation. In the present work, a new crack driving force (CDF) K*eff involving Kujawski’s crack driving force K* in conjunction with Elber’s crack closure concept was used to account for load interaction effects. FCG prediction was also made using conventional CDF ΔKeff (Elber’s) approach. A good correlation was observed between experimental and predicted FCG behaviour under spectrum loads by the proposed K*eff approach. Also, this prediction was observed to be better than that predicted by conventional ΔKeff approach.


Author(s):  
Andrew Cosham ◽  
Kenneth A. Macdonald

Controlled lateral buckling in offshore pipelines typically gives rise to the combination of internal over-pressure and high longitudinal strains (possibly exceeding 0.4 percent). Engineering critical assessments (ECAs) are commonly conducted during design to determine tolerable sizes for girth weld flaws. ECAs are primarily conducted in accordance with BS 7910, often supplemented by guidance given in DNV-OS-F101 and DNV-FP-F108. DNV-OS-F101 requires that finite element (FE) analysis is conducted when, in the presence of internal over-pressure, the nominal longitudinal strain exceeds 0.4 percent. It recommends a crack driving force assessment, rather than one based on the failure assessment diagram. FE analysis is complicated, time consuming and costly. ECAs are, necessarily, conducted towards the end of the design process, at which point the design loads have been defined, the welding procedures qualified and the material properties quantified. In this context, ECAs and FE are not an ideal combination for the pipeline operator, the designer or the installation contractor. A pipeline subject to internal over-pressure is in a state of bi-axial loading. The combination of internal over-pressure and longitudinal strain appears to become more complicated as the longitudinal strain increases, because of the effect of bi-axial loading on the stress-strain response. An analysis of a relatively simple case, a fully-circumferential, external crack in a cylinder subject to internal over-pressure and longitudinal strain, is presented in order to illustrate the issues with the assessment. Finite element analysis, with and without internal over-pressure, are used to determine the plastic limit load, the crack driving force, and the Option 3 failure assessment curve. The results of the assessment are then compared with an assessment using the Option 2 curve. It is shown that an assessment based Option 2, which does not require FE analysis, can potentially give comparable results to the more detailed assessments, when more accurate stress intensity factor and reference stress (plastic limit load) solutions are used. Finally, the results of the illustrative analysis are used to present an outline of suggested revisions to the guidance in DNV-OS-F101, to reduce the need for FE analysis.


2013 ◽  
Vol 05 (03) ◽  
pp. 1350029 ◽  
Author(s):  
ZHONG-XIAN WANG ◽  
RUEI-FENG ZHANG ◽  
YUH J. CHAO ◽  
POH-SANG LAM

Elastic–plastic finite element analysis was performed to study the welded joints with a semi-elliptical crack. This research includes the effects of crack depth, strength mismatch ratio, and weld width on the crack driving force J-integral and the constraint parameter A2 at the crack tip. A two-parameter J-A2 fracture criterion based on the present results of crack tip stress field in the welded joints was established. The corresponding failure assessment diagrams were investigated in detail, from which the reliability and safety margin of the welded structures were discussed.


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