Numerical Investigation on Fracture Initiation Properties of Interface Crack in Dissimilar Steel Welded Joints

Fracture toughness property is of significant importance when evaluating structural safety. The current research of fracture toughness mainly focused on crack in homogeneous material and experimental results. When the crack is located in a welded joint with high-gradient microstructure and mechanical property distribution, it becomes difficult to evaluate the fracture toughness behavior since the stress distribution may be affected by various factors. In recent years, numerical method has become an ideal approach to reveal the essence and mechanism of fracture toughness behavior. This study focuses on the crack initiation behavior and driving force at different interfaces in dissimilar steel welded joints. The stress and strain fields around the crack tip lying at the interfaces of ductile-ductile, ductile-brittle and brittle-brittle materials are analyzed by the numerical simulation. For the interface of ductile-ductile materials, the strain concentration on the softer material side is responsible for ductile fracture initiation. For the ductile-brittle interface, the shielding effect of the ductile material plays an important role in decreasing the fracture driving force on the brittle material side. In the case of brittle-brittle interface, a careful matching is required, because the strength mismatch decreases the fracture driving force in one side, whereas the driving force in another side is increased. The results are deemed to offer support for the safety assessment of welded structures.