Stress Intensity Factors for Radial Cracks in a Pre-Stressed, Thick-Walled Cylinder of Strain-Hardening Materials

A simple method which combines the weight function technique and finite element results is used to obtain mode I stress intensity factor solutions for radially cracked cylinders subjected to a high internal pressure. The method is especially effective for cylinders having residual stresses due to a manufacturing pre-stress process to increase the maximum pressure the cylinder can contain and to improve the cylinder’s useful life against fatigue and fracture. The method is quite general for various assumptions involving the plastic stress-strain relations, the yield condition, the strain-hardening, and the compressibility of the cylinder material.