A Comparison of Stress Intensity Factor Solutions for Surface Cracked Plates
Abstract The present paper compares the stress intensity factor (SIF) solutions for surface-cracked plates presented in R6, BS 7910, API 579-1/ASME FFS-1 and RSE-M. Both extended surface cracks and semi-elliptical surface cracks are considered. In general, the agreement between the various solutions is found to be good at within 5%. However, particular cases are highlighted which are associated with larger differences between the SIFs. For extended surface cracks, the various solutions agree closely at within 5% in all but one case. For semi-elliptical surface cracks, the agreement between the various solutions is generally better at the deepest point than at the so-called ‘surface’ points. In particular, the surface point SIFs corresponding to the Vainshtok and Varfolomeyev weight function solution which appears in API-579-1/ASME FFS-1 differ significantly from the other solutions in some cases. It is concluded that further work is required in order to establish an appropriate definition of the surface point SIF for use in structural integrity calculations.