Axisymmetric Modeling of Constraint Effect on the Ductile Crack Growth Resistance of Circumferentially Cracked Pipes

Ductile crack growth plays an important role in the analysis of the fracture behavior of structures. Crack-like defects in pipe systems often develop during fabrication or in-service operation. The standard single edge notched bending (SENB) specimen with crack depth of a/W = 0.5 has a significantly higher geometry constraint than actual pipes with circumferential surface cracks, which therefore introduces a high degree of conservatism in engineering critical assessment (ECA) of pipes. Moreover, it is difficult to know how conservative the results are, because the geometry constraint is highly material-dependent. For circumferential surface flaws in pipes, the single edge notched tension (SENT) specimen has frequently been used because it has a geometry constraint in front of the crack tip that is similar to the cracks in pipes. Much work has been carried out on tensile testing for the SENT specimen as an alternative fracture mechanics specimen of pipes. In studying fully circumferential cracks in pipes, the crack geometry, applied load and boundary conditions are symmetrical about the axis of revolution. A typical radial plane containing the axis of rotational symmetry can represent these axisymmetric bodies; therefore the three-dimensional analysis can be reduced to a two-dimensional problem. This work systemically applies 2D axisymmetric models to study the ductile crack growth behavior of pipes with fully internal and external circumferential cracks under large scale yielding conditions. The complete Gurson model (CGM) developed and implemented by Zhang was utilized to predict the ductile crack growth resistance curves. Pipes with various internal pressure, diameter-to-thickness ratios, crack depths and material properties, as denoted by hardening and initial void volume fraction, have been analyzed. The results have been compared with those of corresponding clamped-loaded SENT (with same crack depth) and standard SENB specimens. It clearly indicates that the SENT specimen is a good representation of circumferentially flawed pipes and an alternative to the conventional standard SENB specimen for the fracture mechanics testing in ECA of pipes.