Erosions and Their Effect on the Fatigue Life of Thick Walled, Autofrettaged, Pressurized Vessels

2003 ◽  
Vol 125 (3) ◽  
pp. 242-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Levy ◽  
M. Perl ◽  
Q. Ma

This paper summarizes the results that have been found in evaluating the effect of erosions on thick walled, autofrettaged, pressurized, cracked vessels. The problem is solved numerically via the FEM method. Autofrettage, based on von Mises yield criterion, is simulated by thermal loading and stress intensity factors (SIF’s) are determined by the nodal displacement method. SIF’s were evaluated for a variety of relative crack depths a/t and crack ellipticities a/c emanating from the tip of the erosion of various geometries, namely, (a) semi-circular erosions of small relative depths of the cylinder’s wall thickness t; (b) arc erosions for several dimensionless radii of curvature r′/t; and (c) semi-elliptical erosions with ellipticities of d/h. Other parameters evaluated were, in the cases of finite erosions, the semi-erosion length to the semicrack length Le/c, the erosion angular spacing α, and the autofrettage level. First, we summarize the differences found between a vessel with one erosion and one with multiple erosions. We show that for full cylinder length erosions, the erosions tend to make smaller cracks more dangerous than larger cracks in fully autofrettaged vessels and that as the crack grows the stress intensity factor initially decreases. We then show that as the crack grows further, the effect is to increase the effective stress intensity factor (SIF) but also to practically void the existence of the erosion. We show further that lower levels of autofrettage will lead to higher effective SIF’s but that partially eroded cylinders (cylinders where erosions are a fraction of the cylinder length) lead to lower SIF’s. Affecting these values in all cases, of course, are the erosion geometry and depth as well as the crack geometry and depth.

1998 ◽  
Vol 120 (4) ◽  
pp. 349-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Levy ◽  
M. Perl ◽  
H. Fang

Erosion geometry effects on the mode I stress intensity factor (SIF) for a crack emanating from the erosion’s deepest point in an autofrettaged, pressurized, thick-walled cylinder are investigated. The problem is solved via the FEM method and knowledge of the asymptotic behavior of short cracks. Autofrettage, based on von Mises yield criterion, is simulated by thermal loading and SIFs are determined by the nodal displacement method. SIFs are evaluated for a variety of relative crack lengths, a0/W = 0.01 – 0.45, emanating from the tip of erosions of different geometries. In Part I of this paper, two configurations are considered: (a) semi-circular erosions of relative depths of 5 percent of the cylinder’s wall thickness, W; and (b) arc erosions for several dimensionless radii of curvature, r′/W = 0.05 – 0.4. While deep cracks are almost unaffected by the erosion, the effective SIF for relatively short cracks is found to be significantly enhanced by the presence and geometry of the erosion and might reduce the vessel’s fatigue life.


1997 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 351-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
X B Lin ◽  
R A Smith

Stress intensity factors for internal semi-elliptical surface cracks in autofrettaged cylinders with and without internal pressures applied are presented. The three-dimensional finite element based displacement method with the crack tip square-root singularity of stresses and strains simulated is used to evaluate the stress intensity factors along the crack front. Both allowing and disallowing the overlapping of crack faces are considered in this investigation, the latter being simulated by considering crack surface contact through a kind of interface element introduced into the cracked area. The residual stress distribution assumed to act on the crack face is obtained according to Tresca's yield criterion with the material assumed to be elastic-perfectly plastic. Three different overstrains of autofrettage are chosen. The results show that the stress intensity factor is generally underestimated if the crack contact that has actually occurred is ignored, which may lead to a danger in the assessment of either fracture strength or fatigue life. Implications of the stress intensity factor results are also briefly discussed, particularly for the prediction of fatigue lives, and it is shown that the full autofrettage treatment might be the most beneficial for increasing the fatigue life of cracks initiated from the inner core.


2012 ◽  
Vol 134 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Q. Ma ◽  
C. Levy ◽  
M. Perl

Our previous studies have shown that stress intensity factors (SIFs) are influenced considerably from the presence of the Bauschinger Effect (BE) in thick-walled pressurized cracked cylinders. For some types of pressure vessels, such as gun barrels, working in corrosive environment, in addition to acute temperature gradients and repetitive high-pressure impulses, erosions can be practically induced. Those erosions cause stress concentration at the bore, where cracks can readily initiate and propagate. In this study, the BE on the SIFs will be investigated for a crack emanating from an erosion’s deepest point in a multiply eroded autofrettaged, pressurized thick-walled cylinder. A commercial finite element package, ansys, was employed to perform this type of analysis. A two-dimensional model, analogous to the authors’ previous studies, has been adopted for this new investigation. Autofrettage with and without BE, based on von Mises yield criterion, is simulated by thermal loading and the SIFs are determined by the nodal displacement method. The SIFs are evaluated for a variety of relative crack lengths, a0/t = 0.01–0.45 emanating from the tip of the erosion of different geometries including (a) semicircular erosions of relative depths of 1%–10% of the cylinder’s wall thickness, t; (b) arc erosions for several dimensionless radii of curvature, r′/t = 0.05–0.4; and (c) semi-elliptical erosions with ellipticities of d/h = 0.5–1.5, and erosion span angle, α, from 6 deg to 360 deg. The effective SIFs for relatively short cracks are found to be increased by the presence of the erosion and further increased due to the BE, which may result in a significant decrease in the vessel’s fatigue life. Deep cracks are found to be almost unaffected by the erosion, but are considerably affected by BE.


Author(s):  
C. Levy ◽  
M. Perl ◽  
Q. Ma

Erosion geometry effects on the mode I stress intensity factor (SIF) for a crack emanating from the farthest erosion’s deepest point in a finitely or fully multiply eroded, partially autofrettaged, pressurized, thick-walled cylinder is investigated. The problem is solved via the FEM method. Autofrettage, based on von Mises yield criterion, is simulated by thermal loading and SIFs are determined by the nodal displacement method. SIFs were evaluated for a variety of relative crack depths, a/t = 0.01 – 0.30 and crack ellipticities, a/c = 0.5 – 1.5 emanating from the tip of the erosion of various geometries, namely, a) semi-circular erosions of relative depths of 1–10% of the cylinder’s wall thickness, t; b) arc erosions for several dimensionless radii of curvature, r′/t = 0.05 – 0.3; and C) semi-elliptical erosions with ellipticities of d/h = 0.5 – 1.5. In the cases of finite erosions, the semi-erosion length to the semicrack length, Le/c, was between 2 and 10, erosion angular spacing, α, was between 7 and 120 degrees, whereas autofrettage effects investigated were for 30%, 60% and 100% autofrettage. The normalized SIFs and the normalized effective SIFs of a crack emanating from the farthest finite erosion are found to rise sharply for values of Le/c < 3. Both the normalized SIF and normalized effective SIF values are mitigated as the amount of partial autofrettage increases with the most rapid decrease occurring between 0–60% autofrettage. The purpose of this study is to detail these findings.


2003 ◽  
Vol 125 (4) ◽  
pp. 379-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Levy ◽  
M. Perl ◽  
Q. Ma

Erosion geometry effects on the mode I stress intensity factor (SIF) for a crack emanating from the farthest erosion’s deepest point in a multiply, finite-length or full-length eroded, partially autofrettaged, pressurized, thick-walled cylinder is investigated. The problem is solved via the FEM method. Autofrettage, based on von Mises’ yield criterion, is simulated by thermal loading and SIFs are determined by the nodal displacement method. SIFs were evaluated for a variety of relative crack depths, a/t=0.01-0.30 and crack ellipticities, a/c=0.5-1.5 emanating from the tip of the erosion of various geometries, namely, (a) semi-circular erosions of relative depths of 1–10% of the cylinder’s wall thickness, t; (b) arc erosions for several dimensionless radii of curvature, r′/t=0.05-0.3; and (c) semi-elliptical erosions with ellipticities of d/h=0.5-1.5. In the cases of finite erosions, the semi-erosion length to the semi-crack length, Le/c, was between two and ten, erosion angular spacing, α, was between 7 and 120 degrees, whereas percent autofrettage investigated included 30%, 60%, and 100%. The normalized SIFs and the normalized effective SIFs of a crack emanating from the farthest finite erosion are found to rise sharply for values of Le/c<3. Both the normalized SIF and normalized effective SIF values are mitigated as the amount of partial autofrettage increases with the most rapid decrease occurring between 0–60% autofrettage. The purpose of this study is to detail these findings.


Author(s):  
D. J. Shim ◽  
S. Tang ◽  
T. J. Kim ◽  
N. S. Huh

Stress intensity factor solutions are readily available for flaws found in pipe to pipe welds or shell to shell welds (i.e., circumferential/axial crack in cylinder). In some situations, flaws can be detected in locations where an appropriate crack model is not readily available. For instance, there are no practical stress intensity factor solutions for circular-arc cracks which can form in circular welds (e.g., nozzle to vessel shell welds and storage cask closure welds). In this paper, stress intensity factors for circular-arc cracks in finite plates were calculated using finite element analysis. As a first step, stress intensity factors for circular-arc through-wall crack under uniform tension and crack face pressure were calculated. These results were compared with the analytical solutions which showed reasonable agreement. Then, stress intensity factors were calculated for circular-arc semi-elliptical surface cracks under the lateral and crack face pressure loading conditions. Lastly, to investigate the applicability of straight crack solutions for circular-arc cracks, stress intensity factors for circular-arc and straight cracks (both through-wall and surface cracks) were compared.


Author(s):  
Mayumi Ochi ◽  
Kiminobu Hojo ◽  
Itaru Muroya ◽  
Kazuo Ogawa

Alloy 600 weld joints have potential for primary water stress corrosion cracks (PWSCC). At the present time it has been understood that PWSCC generates and propagates in the Alloy 600 base metal and the Alloy 600 weld metal and there has been no observation of cracking the stainless and the low alloy steel. For the life time evaluation of the pipes or components the crack extension analysis is required. To perform the axial crack extension analysis the stress intensity database or estimation equation corresponding to the extension crack shape is needed. From the PWSCC extension nature mentioned above, stress intensity factors of the conventional handbooks are not suitable because most of them assume a semi-elliptical crack and the maximum aspect ratio crack depth/crack half length is one (The evaluation in this paper had been performed before API 579-1/ASME FFS was published). Normally, with the advance of crack extension in the thickness direction at the weld joint, the crack aspect ratio exceeds one and the K-value of the conventional handbook can not be applied. Even if those equations are applied, the result would be overestimated. In this paper, considering characteristics of PWSCC’s extension behavior in the welding material, the axial crack was modeled in the FE model as a rectangular shape and the stress intensity factors at the deepest point were calculated with change of crack depth. From the database of the stress intensity factors, the simplified equation of stress intensity factor with parameter of radius/thickness and thickness/weld width was proposed.


Author(s):  
Daniel M. Blanks

An API 579-1/ASME FFS-1 Failure Assessment Diagram based Fitness-for-Service assessment was carried out on an embedded crack-like flaw found in a nozzle to shell weld in a pressure vessel. Stress intensity factors were initially calculated by utilizing stress results from a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of an uncracked configuration, with the standard embedded crack stress intensity factor solution given in API 579-1/ASME FFS-1. Due to the complex nozzle geometry and flaw size, a second analysis was carried out, incorporating a crack into the FEA model, to calculate the stress intensity factors and evaluate if the standard solution could be applied to this geometry. A large difference in the resulting stress intensity factors was observed, with those calculated by the FEA with the crack incorporated into the model to be twice as high as those calculated by the standard solutions, indicating the standard embedded crack stress intensity factor solution may be non-conservative in this case. An investigation was carried out involving a number of studies to determine the cause of the difference. Beginning with an elliptical shaped embedded crack in a plate, the stress intensity factor calculated with an idealized 3D crack mesh agreed with the API 579-1/ASME FFS-1 solution. Examining other crack locations, and crack shapes, such as a constant depth embedded crack, revealed how the solution began to differ. The greatest difference was found when considering a crack mesh with a small component height (i.e. the distance measured perpendicular from the crack face to the top of the mesh). A close agreement was then found between the stress intensity factors calculated in the nozzle model and an idealized crack mesh with component heights representative of the true geometry. This revealed that reduced structural stiffness is a key factor in the calculation of the stress intensity factors for this geometry, due to the close proximity of the embedded crack to the inner surface of the nozzle. It was found that this reduction is potentially significant even with relatively small crack sizes. This paper details the investigation, and aims to provide the reader with an awareness of situations when the standard stress intensity factor solutions may no longer be valid, and offers general recommendations to consider when calculating stress intensity factors in these situations.


2013 ◽  
Vol 376 ◽  
pp. 173-176
Author(s):  
Ming Ming Wang ◽  
Ming Yan ◽  
Xiang Jun Zhu

Aim for calculating stress intensity factor (short for SIF) of different position plates with eccentric crack, and the change tendency between different positions and SIF, the crack model is built by finite element software, and the SIF change tendency line with different width plates is got. It is seen from the von Mises stress cloud chart of ANSYS that the deformation of plate is effected by crack; as the center of crack is gradually close to the edge of plate, SIF is increasing. When the distance between the center and edge of crack is decreasing down to 3/8, SIF is increasing fiercely, that means, the plate at this time has already reached the edge of fracture. If continue loading the stretch, the crack will be apparent on the plate. And the curvature equation is got by index decay adapting.


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