Elastic-plastic J and COD estimates for axial through-wall cracked pipes

This paper proposes engineering estimation equations of elastic-plastic J and crack opening displacement (COD) for axial through-wall cracked pipes under internal pressure. On the basis of detailed 3D finite element (FE) results using deformation plasticity, the plastic influence functions for fully plastic J and COD solutions are tabulated as a function of the mean radius-to-thickness ratio, the normalised crack length, and the strain hardening. On the basis of these results, the GE/EPRI-type J and COD estimation equations are proposed and validated against 3D FE results based on deformation plasticity. For more general application to general stress-strain laws or to complex loading, the developed GE/EPRI-type solutions are re-formulated based on the reference stress (RS) concept. Such a re-formulation provides simpler equations for J and COD, which are then further extended to combined internal pressure and bending. The proposed RS based J and COD estimation equations are compared with elastic-plastic 3D FE results using actual stress-strain data for Type 316 stainless steels. The FE results for both internal pressure cases and combined internal pressure and bending cases compare very well with the proposed J and COD estimates. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.