Predictions of Cleavage Fracture in Welded Components Incorporating Strength Mismatch Effects: A Weibull Stress Based Approach

This work describes the development of a toughness scaling methodology incorporating the effects of weld strength mismatch on crack-tip driving forces. The approach adopts a nondimensional Weibull stress, σ¯_w, as a the near-tip driving force to correlate cleavage fracture across cracked weld configurations with different mismatch conditions even though the loading parameter (measured by the J-integral) may vary widely due to mismatch and constraint variations. Application of the procedure to predict the failure strain for an overmatch girth weld made of an API X80 pipeline steel demonstrates the effectiveness of the micromechanics approach. Overall, the results lend strong support to use a Weibull stress based procedure in defect assessments of structural welds.