Rules on Transforming Embedded Flaws to Surface Flaws Available to Purchase

If embedded flaws are located near the component surfaces, proximity rules are used to determine whether the flaws should be treated as embedded flaws as is, or transformed to surface flaws. This is because failures at ligaments are expected to occur for embedded flaws. The proximity rules are widely adopted in fitness-for-service codes and standards. This paper introduces the proximity rules in the world, and stress intensity factors for embedded and transformed surface flaws are calculated and compared among the proximity rules.