Surface to Through-Wall Crack Transition Model for Circumferential Cracks in Pipes

In the present paper, finite element analyses were performed to update and also extend the applicable ranges of the existing KI and COD solutions for non-idealized through-wall cracks. Then, a surface to through-wall crack transition model was proposed based on these solutions. The proposed model provides a criterion which determines when the final surface crack should transition to a through-wall crack. It also provides a criterion to determine the two crack lengths (at the inner and outer diameter surfaces) of the initial non-idealized through-wall crack. Furthermore, crack growth of non-idealized through-wall cracks can be simulated by using the proposed method. Finally, the proposed model was verified by demonstrating that it can well predict the surface to through-wall transition behavior when compared to the natural crack growth simulations.

Reflections on Early Stages of Environmentally Assisted Cracking from Corrosion Pits

A perspective is presented on the evolution of damage due to environmentally assisted cracking (EAC), from crack precursor development through to long crack growth. The variable nature of crack precursors is highlighted with an observation that uncontrolled chemistry excursions or fabrication defects could eliminate any significant delay associated with that step in the damage evolution process. Specimen preparation by machining and grinding can be critical in determining the apparent susceptibility of the metal to EAC and corrosion, and an example for 316L stainless steel is given to show how physical defects generated by the grinding wheel can become the dominant site for pitting attack relative to MnS inclusions. Corrosion pits are the most commonly observed precursor to cracks in aqueous chloride environments. The loci of sites of crack initiation around a pit are discussed and the inherent challenges in quantifying the growth of cracks smaller than the pit depth described with implications for modelling of the pit-to-crack transition. The remarkably enhanced stress corrosion crack growth rate data for short and small cracks in a 12Cr steam turbine blade in a simulated condensate environment are discussed in the context of crack electrochemistry modelling and the implications for engineering integrity.

Studying Stress Corrosion Cracking Crack Initiation in Pipeline Steels in a Near-Neutral pH Environment: The Role of Hydrotesting

Hydrostatic testing, or hydrotesting, has been widely used as a stress corrosion cracking management method in the pipeline industry, particularly in gas pipelines. Although the technique has been very useful in the prevention of operational failures, it is known that these high pressures can produce significant plastic deformation around stress concentrators, such as pits and other surface flaws, that might be present. This plasticity can temporarily retard long, well-developed cracks; however, the effect of this plasticity on growth of very small cracks has not previously been studied. In this work, a long-term test was conducted to simulate real pipeline pressure cycling conditions by the application of occasional hydrotesting loads on steel samples. Crack initiations from pits were compared between specimens undergoing no hydrotesting load (control specimens) and those that underwent three hydrotest cycles during the test. The results showed that pit-to-crack transition was enhanced by the application of three hydrotesting loads. Seventy percent more cracks were found to have grown beyond ferrite grain boundaries in the hydrotested specimens. This initial study indicated substantial differences between small crack formation with and without hydrotesting. These differences predict significantly higher short crack growth in the hydrotested samples. Further study is necessary to further delineate these effects.

Validation of Hot Corrosion and Fatigue Models in HOTPITS

HOTPITS is a set of physics-based modeling tools for treating Type II hot corrosion in Ni-based superalloys. The methodology includes modeling the nucleation, growth, and coalescence of pits and microcracks as a random process, as well as the transition of pits to micrcracks and the propagation of the resulting large crack to failure. In this investigation, critical experiments were performed on coupon and low-cycle fatigue (LCF) specimens in order to validate the hot corrosion and the fatigue models in HOTPITS. The pit nucleation, growth, and coalescence models in HOTPITS including the assumption of a random process are validated by the hot corrosion critical experiments performed at two salt contents. The LCF critical experiments, performed using a marker band protocol, validated the stress concentration factor-based models used to predict the pit-to-crack transition in the HOTPITS tool.