Failure assessment diagrams of semi-elliptical surface crack with constraint effect

In recent years, the subject of remaining life assessment has drawn considerable attention in the power generation industry. In power generation systems a variety of structural components, such as steam pipes, turbine rotors, and superheater headers, typically operate at high temperatures and high pressures. Thus a life prediction methodology accounting for fracture and rupture is increasingly needed for these components. For accurate failure assessment, in addition to the single parameter such as K or J-integral used in traditional fracture mechanics, the second parameter like T-stress describing the constraint is needed. The most critical defects in such structures are generally found in the form of semi-elliptical surface cracks in the welded piping-joints. In this work, selecting the structures of suface-cracked plate and straight pipe, we first perform line-spring finite element modeling, and accompanying elastic-plastic finite element analyses. We then present a framework for including constraint effects (T-stress effects) in the R6 failure assessment diagram approach for fracture assessment