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A Plastic Fracture Instability

Analysis of Wall Breakthrough in a


Akram Zahoor'
Circumferentially Cracked Pipe
Assoc. Mem. ASME,
Subjected to Bending Loads
M. F. Kanninen
A method of analyzing internal surface circumferential cracks in ductile reactor
Mem. ASME,
piping is presented. The method utilizes an alternate but equivalent definition of the
Battelle Columbus Laboratories, J-integral based on nonlinear structural compliance. The analysis is valid for
Columbus, Ohio 43201 situations where the cross section containing the crack is fully yielded. Results are
obtained for radial and circumferential crack growth for pipes subjected to bend-
ing. The stability of radial crack growth (wall breakthrough) is assessed using the J-
integral-based Tearing Modulus approach. The analysis is shown to be in good
agreement with experimental results on the stability of surface crack growth in Type
304 stainless steel pipes. Example quantitative results for fracture instabiltiy
assessments for nuclear piping are presented to demonstrate the practical ap-
plication of the approach.

Introduction
Cracks have been found in the heat-affected zones around solutions include both through-thickness and surface cracks.
girth welds in the Type 304 stainless steel piping of many But, they are applicable only in the linear elastic fracture
Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) plants [1-3]. These cracks mechanics (LEFM) regime and for only uniform pressure
typically initiate at the inner surface of the pipe wall and, and/or axial loading. Circumferentially cracked pipes sub-
Under normal load and environmental operating conditions, jected to bending loads do not yet appear to have been
grow radially and circumferentially by combined stress analyzed. Bending loading is of great practical interest
corrosion and fatigue. While no serious incidents have yet because the loads that arise in accident conditions would
been triggered by the presence of these cracks, the possibility likely cause bending stresses due to the presence of supports
exists that a transient loading arising from an accident and turns in a piping system.
condition could cause pipe rupture. Hence a quantitative The focus of this paper is a simplified plastic fracture
determination of the stength of flawed pipes is an important mechanics approach based on a nonlinear structural com-
aspect of nuclear reactor integrity assessments. pliance definition of the ./-integral. This approach allows the
Tough and ductile materials are commonly employed in stability of crack growth to be assessed with a material
nuclear systems; e.g., Type 304 stainless steel. Extensive fracture property in the form of a /-resistance curve via the
plastic deformation and crack tip blunting will then occur tearing modulus approach [9,10]. Specifically, the /-integral
prior to the initiation of crack growth. Moreover, initiation is derived for a circumferential surface crack in a pipe sub-
can be followed by a significant amount of stable crack jected to bending for the condition that the cross section
growth prior to fracture instability. Although a simple net containing the crack has fully yielded. Thus the approach is
section collapse stress criterion can be effective for these readily applicable to highly ductile materials like the Type 304
conditions [4], as discussed in more detail later in this paper, stainless steel pipes used in BWR systems. The results are
such an approach has somewhat limited applicability. As a applied to determine the pipe deflection that would cause the
consequence, there is a need for plastic fracture mechanics breakthrough of a part-through-wall crack in a 4-in. diameter
solutions that can handle the extensive plastic deformation pipe.
and stable crack growth that would be experienced during the
fracturing of a nuclear pipe, particularly under nonload
controlled conditions.
Basis of the Approach
Some analytical solutions for circumferentially cracked
cylinders are available in the open literature [5-8]. These The /-integral proposed by Rice [11] is now used widely as a
parameter to characterize the fracture toughness of materials
Now with Fracture Proof Design Corporation, Saint Louis, Mo. 63108. in situations where crack associated plasticity in a specimen or
Contributed by the Materials Division for publication in the JOURNAL OF structure is such that the use of LEFM is invalid. The / -
ENGINEERING MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY. Manuscript received by the integral was originally defined for two-dimensional problems
Materials Division, j a n u a r y U , 1981. by a line integral given by

194/Vol. 103, JULY 1981 Transactions of the ASME


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A

Fig. 1 Circumferentially cracked pipe in four-point bending

Fig. 2 Cross section of the crack plane in a circumferentially cracked

L( pipe
9 U
nn ,
J-- Wdy- 0)
)•
where Y denotes an arbitrary contour which encloses the crack
tip, ds is an increment of arc length along the contour, x and y J-Integral Analysis for a Surface Crack
are coordinates parallel and normal to the crack front, T is the Expression for Limit Load Conditions. Figure 1 shows a
traction vector exerted on the material within the contour, u is surface cracked pipe in a four-point-bend loading system. The
the displacement vector, and W is the strain energy density in crack is oriented circumferentially and is located sym-
the nonlinear elastic sense. It has been shown by Rice that the metrically with respect to the supports and load application
/-integral as defined in equation (1) is path independent, points. The cross section of the pipe containing the crack is
provided the material deforms in accord with the deformation shown in Fig. 2, where the depth a of the surface crack is
theory of plasticity [11]. taken to be uniform all along the radial front. 2 The length of
A three-dimensional generalization of equation (1) has also the surface crack is R<j> where <> / is the angle subtended by the
been developed [12]. But, in either a two-dimensional or crack at the centroid of the pipe and R is the mean radius of
three-dimensional problem, the contour integral computation the pipe.
of / v i a equation (1) requires a detailed knowledge of stresses To evaluate / from equation (4) or (5), a relation between
and strains. This requires either a closed form solution or a P, 8, and crack area is required. An exact relation between
finite element analysis. An alternate and equivalent definition these quantities cannot be obtained without a full elastic-
of / for two-dimensional (plane) problems that does not plastic analysis of the cracked pipe. But, approximations can
require the detailed information needed for a contour integral be made to obtain simple estimates that are still reasonably
evaluation is given by [13] accurate. Specifically, in what follows it will be assumed that
the cross section containing the crack (see Fig. 2) is fully
/=-( f — ) db (2) yielded. This assumption is justified for materials like Type
Jo \Bdah w 304 stainless steel where experimental observations on surface
cracked pipes in bending indicate that fully plastic conditions
dP (3) are achieved before the initiation of crack growth [16].
Jo \Bda/i When the elastic component of the load-point displacement
where a is the crack length, B is the thickness of the body at due to the crack is negligibly small compared to its plastic
the crack tip, P is the applied load, and 8 is the load-point component,
displacement. Equations (2) and (3) can be derived from 8 = 8p, + 8,'pt ~ upi (6)
nonlinear compliance considerations and are equivalent to the
contour integral definition under deformation plasticity where 8 is the total displacement due to the crack, while 8e(
conditions [14]. These definitions have been used widely for and 8p[ are the elastic and plastic components, respectively. It
analyzing experimental data obtained from standard fracture follows that equation (4) can be written as
toughness specimens; e.g., compact tension specimens, bend
bars, and center-cracked panels.
When applying equation (2) or (3) for two-dimensional
Mr ' in, T dP
dd,
L d(crack area) J spt p"
When fully plastic conditions are achieved, the load reaches
models of fracture specimens, B is a constant and can be
taken out of the integral. But, a further generalization is the limit load, PL. In the nonwork-hardening limit, PL would
possible for three dimensional crack configurations by simply remain constant and would not be dependent upon the
replacing the term Bdd by d(crack area). That is displacement. Assuming that this is true, equation (7) reduces
to the simple form

H: dp
L d(crack area).
dd (4) /=_
dP,
d(crack area)
•>pi (8)

which will be used in the following.


or
Expression for the Limit Load. Consider that the cross
38
'-i.'[ d(crack area) J P
dP (5) section containing the crack has developed a fully yielded
plastic hinge due to the applied bending moment. This
limiting bending moment can be denoted as ML and expressed
The form of / as given by equations (4) and (5) was used by in terms of PL as
Tada, et al. [15] and Zahoor, et al. [10] to analyze a cir-
cumferential through-thickness crack in a pipe in bending. In
this paper, the definition of / as given by equation (4) will be 2
Elliptical shaped cracks can also be considered although this substantially
utilized to analyze surface crack problems. increases the algebraic complexity.

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0 i

a/t=0.9y
1.0
w/^* \m Q8^_-

'0.8

1 "
1 * 0.6

2 0.6

0.4

0.2

i i i 1 1 1 1
$, degrees

Fig. 4 The variation of /3f with <j> for various values of a/f

d{crack area) = R<j>tdx. (14)


_l_ I J_ _L I Using (14) in (8) gives the J associated with the radial crack
0 30 60 90 120 150 ISO 2
front. This is
£ , degrees

Fig. 3 The variation of the dimensionless function Ms 1


with crack Jr=- (15)
angle ^ for various values of a/f R~4>t ("ST)'
where the subscript r here and in the following will be used to
denote the propensity for crack growth in the radial direction.
(Z-L) Using equation (9) through (11) in equation (15) gives
Mr = P, (9)
Jr = 0rPL5.'pi' (16)
where Z and L are the distances between the load and the where
support points in the four-point loading system (see Fig. 1). If
(3r = Jr/4RtMsc (17)
the cracked cross section carries a uniform flow stress of + <r0
on the tensile side and - cr0 on the compressive side, then an with
expression for ML can be obtained from force and moment
equilibrium. This is (*/2)].
Jr == sin(x<t>/4) + - sin (18)
ML=4aQR2tMsc, (10)
It should be noted that 0r is not only a function of the crack
where dimensions but also of the pipe size (radius and thickness).
Figure 4 shows the variation of j8r with <>
/ for several values of
Msc = cos(X(/>/4) sin(0/2)] (11) alt. Note that /3r has the dimension of an inverse area.

and x=a/t is the ratio of the crack depth to wall thickness. Evaluation of / for Circumferential Crack Growth. For a
Figure 3 shows the variation of Msc with <t> for various values virtual crack extension at each tip in the circumferential
of alt. direction with no extension of the radial crack front, equation
Equation (11) is valid only for a crack whose length is such (13) gives
that its circumferential tips lie below the neutral axis of the rf(crack area) = Rad<f> (19)
cracked section; i.e., the line NA in Fig. 2. For longer cracks,
Equation (19) and equation (8) through (11), when combined,
the portion of the cracked surface above the neutral axis will
give
be able to carry the compressive load. Then Msc requires
modification to prevent interpenetration of the crack sur- J^PiPrS,Lupt> (20)
faces. However, although this can be readily accomplished, it where the subscript <> / denotes the crack front associated with
is not necessary for the work reported in this paper. the circumferential ends of the surface crack. The fucntion / ^
Evaluation of J for Radial Crack Growth. It can be seen is given by
from Fig. 2 that, for a thin walled pipe where a < t < < R P,=J,/4RtMsi (21)
2t-
crackarea = i?0a V-—V R<j>a (12)
with
7^ = [sin(x0/4) + cos(4>/2)] (22)
L
But, before this can be utilized 2Requation
in J (8), it must be which is similar to the function Jr of equation (18).
recognized that there are two crack fronts associated with a Equations (16) and (20) give values of J at crack fronts
circumferential crack; radial and circumferential. Hence, the associated with crack growth in the depth and circumferential
change in crack area is directions, respectively. Because the crack front in either
d(crack area) = Rd(4>a). (13) direction is assumed to maintain its shape, these equations
give an average value of / along the respective crack front.
For simplicity, it will be assumed that a virtual crack ex-
tension occurs only in the radial direction with no cir- The Directionality of Surface Crack Growth. The relative
cumferential extension. Then, using x=a/t, equation (13) magnitudes of Jr and J^, can be determined by dividing
becomes equation (20) by (16). This gives

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1;
Q/t=0.4/

— Jf/f^-t o&s^
ffj
^ - (>8__

S^S^Nv ^ a / t • 0.7 095

v^X>> -
,\
v \
\ 1 1 l 1 1 1 1
\
\ £ , degrees

J L J L
Fig. 6 The variation of yr with <A for various values of alt
if>, degrees

Fig. 5 Curves of J ^ / J r versus <>


/

equation (16). The material's 7-resistance curve characterizes


J$ 7 0 sin(x0/4) + cos(</>/2) the material's resistance to crack growth, at least for a given
(23) temperature and degree of constraint in the crack tip region.
Tr~Tr~ sin(x</>/4) + (2/0)sin(<£/2)'
Thus, from equilibrium considerations
The ratio 7^/7,. is plotted against <> / for several values of alt in
Fig. 5. It can be seen that 7^,/7r is always less than 1 and 7(P,5,a,</.,^,0=7 m a l / (Ac), (24)
decreases monotonically as <> / increases. where 7 mat/ is the value of 7 that the material requires for an
To understand this result, consider a hypothetical material amount of crack growth Ac. Note that the parameter Ac
in which the same 7-resistance curve characterizes crack represents either radial crack growth (Aa) or circumferential
growth in both the radial and the circumferential directions. growth (RA(j>). However, as shown in the above, since cir-
Let Jc be the value for initiation of growth. Then, when cumferential crack growth is considerably less likely than
Jr =JC it can be seen from Fig. 5 that, for any </>>0, 7^, must radial direction crack growth, only the latter will be con-
be less than 7 f . This implies that crack growth will first sidered in the following.
initiate in the depth direction, with no growth taking place in Crack growth in the radial direction will be stable so long as
the <t> direction. But, because the 7-resistance curve is always a
dJ dJmM!
monotonically increasing function of the crack advance, Jr (25)
must increase as the crack grows in depth. Consequently, it is da da
possible that 7 0 may also reach Jc whereupon a combination It follows that the point of fracture instability is reached when
of radial and circumferential growth could occur. But, this
appears to be somewhat unlikely. dJ^ _ "7 mat /
(26)
As an illustrative example, consider a circumferential crack da da
with c/>=180 degrees and a/t = 0A. Then, from Fig. 5, To use this approach an expression for dJ/da is required.
7^,/7r - 0 . 3 . Clearly, an increase in Jr to about 37c is therefore Clearly, dJ/da will depend upon the way in which the load is
required before 7^, can also reach 7 C . Such a large increase in controlled; e.g., displacement or load-control. For many
Jr would require a substantial amount of stable crack growth practical reactor piping system applications, a displacement
to occur. However, this growth will be limited by the small controlled loading is more likely. Hence, this conditions will
amount of remaining uncracked ligament in the radial be considered here. 3
direction, even for a rapidly increasing 7-resistance curve. In the four-point bend loading system shown in Fig. 1, the
In actuality, the radial crack front will experience a higher total load-point displacement bT can be expressed as
degree of triaxiality than will the circumferential front. This
suggests that the 7-resistance curve for radial direction growth &T = CelpPL+8ph (27)
will be less than that for circumferential growth in a manner where Celp is the elastic compliance of the pipe without a
comparable to the difference between plane strain and plane crack. Notice that, as given earlier, &ef has been neglected; cf,
stress conditions. Thus, it can be concluded for surface equation (6).
cracked pipes subjected to a bending moment that the amount For crack growth along the radial crack front in
of crack growth in the circumferential direction prior to wall displacement controlled loading
breakthrough will be negligible. This agrees qualitatively with ddT dPr db>PI
}
the experimental data on Type 304 stainless steel [4, 16]. = 0 = C,elp ' (28)
~da da + da
Fracture Instability of Radial Direction Crack Growth By differentiating equation (16), a n d using equation (28)
As discussed by Kanninen, et al. [17, 18], an important together with equations (9) through (11) a n d equation (16),
feature of a plastic fracture mechanics approach is its ability after some algebraic manipulation, a n expression for dJr/da
to predict fracture instability after some amount of stable can be obtained (See Appendix A). This is
crack growth. While many approaches can be used, currently dJr
the most advanced is one utilizing the 7-resistance curve. This = R<pCelpWrPL)2 + ^Jr: (29)
~da~
is the "Tearing Modulus" approach, details of which can be
found in References 19 through 22. where
In the 7-integral/tearing modulus approach to fracture 3
instability, the applied value of 7-integral is equated with the The tearing modulus is formally defined as T= (E/a„2)(dJlda) where £ is
the elastic modulus and rj„ is the yield (or flow) stress. This form could be
material's crack growth resistance to determine the extent of introduced by simply multiplying both sides of equation (26) by El a,2.
stable crack growth. The applied 7 is a function of the applied However, this will not be done here to avoid the difficulties that arise when a,
loading, crack dimensions, and the pipe geometry; cf, varies during crack growth.

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J(RRDIRL),MN/m J, 1000 ln.-lb/in.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 15
80 550 1
1 1 1 1 1 —
1 1 1 I 1 1
500 9S
\o
z'M - Experimental Data
1 450
_ V 3S: <£=7r, unstable
2 60
\ \ 400 *EE \\ I0S: <p=ir, unstable
0) \ \\ 6S: 9b=7r/2, stable _
\ 350 Z \ 9S: $ = 3 T T / 2 , unstable
§50 - -x=0.5
\ — \
_l
\
x=ai\ i
>
^ *^x 0.9
300

250 O
s
o
\\
\ DI0S
D3S

(E
l-l
a 30 \ — -^Mr* „ 200 1
a: —
«20
•n
Jjmi^
WS>^
* VQ
1,12
=70 ksi 150
•o
\ Material crack growth'
resistance
7
/
100
\
•• 10 -y Material
ysis) — A6S
50
Open symbols: Unstable
0 1 i i I 0 Closed symbol: Stable
CI 10 20 30 40 50
JCRRDIRL),1000LB/IN i i 1
2
Fig. 7 Determination of fracture instability for 4-in. diameter type 304 J, MN/m
stainless steel pipes in bending (<j = 90 deg)
Fig. 9 Comparison of analysis prediction for stability of radial crack
growth in 4-in. diameter type 304 stainless steel pipes in bending

Crack Growth, Aa, inches


0.2 0.3 30

25 _

S>
_ 3

15

_ 2
10 _

0 .2 .4 .G .8 1
Surface Crack D o p t h / T h 1 cknoss, X

Fig. 10 Value of J for unstable wall breakthrough for various depth


circumferential surface cracks in a 4-in. diameter type 304 stainless
4 6 8 10 12 steel pipe in bending (<j> = 90 deg)
Crack Growth, Aa, mm
Fig. 8 The J-resistance curve for type 304 stainless steel at room
temperature extracted by an elastic-plastic finite element analysis of a
in Fig. 7 is dJmMI/da versus / mat , curve for Type 304 stainless
three-point bend specimen
steel. This is indicated by the dashed line. This material curve
was extracted from the /-resistance curve shown in Fig. 8. It
was generated from an elastic-plastic finite element analysis
yr= (dJr/dx)/Jr, (30) of the experimental data on a three-point bend bar of Type
and Jr and Pr have been defined in equations (17) and (18). 304 stainless steel having the same thickness as a 4-in.
Figure 6 shows curves for yr as a function of 4> for several diameter pipe [16].
values of alt. According to equation (26), the intersection of the applied
Equation (29) contains the crack dimensions, both ex- curve for a particular flaw depth with the material curve
plicitly and through the functions /3r and yr. Moreover, the determines the point at which instability would occur for that
system compliance enters into the equation along with Jr. flaw. A comparison of the analysis predictions with ex-
Thus all crack and pipe dimensions and the compliance perimental data on 4-in. diameter Type 304 stainless steel
contribute to dJr/da in displacement controlled loading. pipes is shown in Fig. 9. These data are for four surface
To illustrate how radial crack stability can be assessed, cracked pipe experiments, three of which exhibited fracture
consider surface cracks having a length equal to 25 percent of instability during radial crack growth and one that did not.
the circumference in 4-in. diameter Schedule 80 Type 304 The details of these experiments are given in reference [16].
stainless steel pipes. For the four-point loading shown in Fig. The applied (analysis) values which lie above the material
1, with Z = 60in. andL = 16in., Fig. 7 shows dJr Ida versus Jr curve (dashed line in Fig. 9) predict unstable wall
curves for several values of x (=alt). In obtaining these breakthrough. Applied values that lie below the material
curves, a flow stress of 70 ksi was assumed. (This value is curve predict stable crack growth. It can be seen from Fig. 9
approximately the average of the yield and ultimate strengths that these predictions agree with the observed behavior in the
for Type 304 stainless steel at room temperature.) Also shown four experiments.

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limitations. First, it can only be applied in load-controlled
situations. In nuclear piping systems, transient or seismic
loads would give rise to loadings at the crack that are not
entirely load controlled because of the restraints
(displacement limited) in a piping. Hence, because the net
section collapse approach does not explicitly take account of
the system compliance, the possibly large margin of safety
that would be associated with a compliant loading condition is
therefore ignored.
There is also some evidence that indicates that the net
section collapse stress is dependent upon the pipe diameter
and thickness [16,23]. Finally, there appears to be no fun-
damentally valid way in which the growth of a part-through-
wall crack can be distinguished from general instability using
the net section collapse stress approach. Consequently, the
practically important leak-before-break condition cannot be
0 .2 .4 .6 .8 1 delineated by this approach. In the work presented here, the
S u r f a c e Crack Depth/Th 1 ckness, X flow stress a0 has been related to J-integral fracture
Ffg. 11 Load-point displacement at wall breakthrough for various parameters, Jr and / 0 , via equations (16) and (20).
depth circumferential surface cracks in a 4-in. diameter type 304
stainless steel pipe in bending It is important to recognize that radial crack growth in-
stability does not imply that the resulting through-thickness
crack will also be unstable. Further displacement may be
It should be noted that the geometry dependence of J- required to force unstable growth of the through-thickness
resistance curves, generated from tension and bend crack. Clearly, whether the circumferential crack growth
geometries, for Type 304 stainless steel has been reported in instability occurs immediately after wall breakthrough or only
reference [10]. In the numerical results presented here it was after some additional displacement is of great practical im-
assumed that a surface crack in bending would experience a portance. In the latter case, the pipe will leak before it breaks,
constraint similar to the three-point bend geometry. The giving time for detection, while in the former case complete
question of whether this assumption is valid remains to be pipe fracture would occur with little warning. The delineation
resolved and it will be the subject of a future paper. of "leak-before-break" conditions for circumferentially
The critical values of Jr taken from Fig. 7 are plotted cracked pipes is possible with an extension of the approach
against alt in Fig. 10. To express the instability point in terms described in this paper. This problem will be addressed in a
of a more easily measurable quantity like load-point future paper.
displacement, the information in Fig. 10 can be transformed
by using equation (16). The results are shown in Fig. 11. This
type of result, which offers the possibility for a direct Acknowledgment
assessment of wall breakthrough in terms of an imposed The work reported in this paper was performed for the
displacement that might be anticipated in a transient loading, Electric Power Research Institute BWR pipe integrity analysis
is the objective of this work. On the basis of the type of program under Project T118-2. The authors would like to
comparison shown in Fig. 9, it can be concluded that the thank Dr. D. M. Norris, Jr. of EPRI for his support and
approach followed here to achieve this result is not only encouragement of the work. The /-resistance curve used in
useful for practical applications, but is accurate as well. this paper was obtained by Dr. I. S. Abou-Sayed from an
experiment performed by Dr. C. W. Marschall. The pipe
Discussion and Conclusions fracture experiments cited were obtained by Mr. G. M.
Wilkowski.
The plastic fracture instability analysis developed in this
paper provides an approach by which surface cracked pipes
can be analyzed for wall breakthrough in fully plastic
References
regimes. This can be done with equation (29) and a J-
resistance curve for the material, via equation (26). The 1 Anon., "Investigation and Evaluation of Cracking In Austenitic Stainless
graphical solution procedure typified by Fig. 7 is particularly Steel Piping of Boiling Water Reactor Plants," NUREG-75/067, Oct. 1975.
2 Cheng, C. F., Ellingson, W. A., and Parks, J. Y., "Effect of Residual
convenient for this purpose. Note that this procedure is not Stress and Microstructure on Stress-Corrosion Cracking in BWR Piping,"
limited to the specific crack/structure geometry and the Corrosion/76, Houston, Texas, Mar. 1976.
assumption of a fully yielded cross section as considered in 3 Anon., "Investigation and Evaluation of Stress-Corrosion Cracking in
this paper, but is a generally applicable one. Piping of Light Water Reactor Plants," Report of the USNRC Pipe Crack
Study Group, NUREG/0531, Feb. 1979.
Experimental observations on flawed Type 304 stainless 4 Kanninen, et al., "Towards An Elastic-Plastic Fracture Mechanics
steel pipes subjected to bending indicated that the cross Predictive Capability for Reactor Piping," Nuclear Engineering and Design,
section containing a crack usually undergoes general yielding Vol.48, 1978, pp. 117-134.
before the initiation of crack growth. This observation 5 Folias, E. S., "A Circumferential Crack in a Pressurized Cylindrical
originally suggested the "net section collapse stress" ap- Shell," Intl. J. Fracture Mechanics, Vol. 3, 1967, pp. 1-11.
6 Lakshminarayana, H. V., and Murthy, M.V.V., "On Stresses Around an
proach for predicting the strength of flawed BWR pipes [4]. Arbitrarily Oriented Crack in a Cylindrical Shell," Intl. J. of Fracture, Vol. 12,
This approach assumes that plastic collapse occurs when the No. 4, 1976, pp. 547-566.
net section stress reaches a critical value. The collapse stress 7 Erdogan, F., "Ductile Fracture Theories for Pressurized Pipes and
could be determined from experiments on standard fracture Containers," Intl. J. Pressure Vessels and Piping, Vol. 4,1976, pp. 253-283.
8 The Surface Crack: Physical Problems and Computational Solutions, J.
specimens such as a center-cracked panel. This procedure was L. Swedlow, editor, ASME Publication, New York, 1972.
found to give good agreement with measured fracture loads in 9 Paris, P. C , Tada, H., Ernst, H., and Zahoor, A., "Initial Experimental
4-in. diameter Type 304 stainless steel pipes with through-wall Investigation of Tearing Instability Theory," in Elastic-Plastic Fracture,
cracks under load-controlled bending [16]. ASTM STP 668, 1979, pp. 251-265.
10 Zahoor, A., and Kanninen, M. F., " A Plastic Fracture Mechanics
While the net section collapse stress approach can provide Prediction of Fracture Instability in a Circumferentially Cracked Pipe in
reasonable estimates of fracture loads, it has several Bending: Part I. J-integral Analysis," ASME Paper 80-WA/PVP-3, Nov.

Journal of Engineering Materials and Technology JULY 1981, Vol. 103/199

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1980, Accepted for Publication in the Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology, APPENDIX A
1981.
11 Rice, J. R., "A Path Independent Integral of the Approximate Analysis The result presented in equation (29) can be obtained by
of Strain Concentration by Notches and Cracks," ASME Journal of Applied first solving for dPL Ida and dhpl/c\& as follows.
Mechanics, Vol. 35, 1968, pp. 379-386.
12 Knowles, J. K., and Sternberg, E., "On a Class of Conservative Laws in Solving for dPL/da from equation (15) and utilizing equation
Linearized and Finite Elastostatics," Archive of Rational Mechanics and
Analysis, Vol. 44, No. 3,1972, pp. 187-211.
(16) gives
13 Rice, J. R., Paris, P. C , and Merkle, J. G., "Some Further Results of J- dP,
rntegral Analysis and Estimates," in Progress in Flaw Growth and Fracture ^- = -R<j>PrPL (A-l)
Toughness Testing, ASTM STP 536, 1973, pp. 231-245. da
14 Paris, P. C , "Fracture Mechanics in the Elastic-Plastic Regime," in Flaw It can be noted from equation (16) that Jr is a function of two
Growth andFracture, ASTM STP 631, 1976, pp. 3-27.
15 Tada, H., Paris, P. C , and Gamble, R. M., "A Stability Analysis of
variables, the crack depth a and bph i.e.
Circumferential Cracks for Reactor Piping Systems," in Fracture Mechanics: Jr=Jr(a,bpl). (A-2)
Twelfth Conference, ASTM STP 700, 1980, pp. 296-313.
16 Kanninen, M. F., et al., "Instability Predictions for Circumferentially Differentiating w.r.t. a gives
Cracked Large Diameter Type 304 Stainless Steel Pipes Under Dynamic
Loading," Battelle's Columbus Laboratories Report to EPRI, Dec. 1980. dJr _ / dJr \ ( dJr \ dd„
17 Kanninen, M. F., et al, "The Development of a Plastic Fracture ~da~ V da Jspi \d8p, )a da
Methodology," Battelle's Columbus Laboratories final report to the Electric
Power Research Institute on RP601-1, Dec. 1980. Solving for d8pt/da gives
18 Kanninen, M. F., Popelar, C. H., and Broek, D., "A Critical Survey on
the Application of Plastic Fracture Mechanics to Nuclear Pressure Vessels and d8,'pi
= W_(VL\ 1//8M (A.3)
Piping," Battelle's Columbus Laboratories report to the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Jan. 1981. da Ida \da /spiil\asp,/a
19 Paris, P. C , Tada, H., Zahoor, A., and Ernst, H., "The Theory of The partial differentials in equation (A-3) are easily obtained
Instability of the Tearing Mode of Elastic-Plastic Crack Growth," in Elastic-
Plastic Fracture, ASTM STP 668, 1979, pp. 5-36.
by utilizing equation (16). Thus,
20 Hutchinson, J. W., and Paris, P. C., "Stability Analysis of J-Controlled dJr
Crack Growth," in Elastic-Plastic Fracture, ASTM STP 668,1979, pp. 37-64.
21 Zahoor, A., and Paris, P. C , "Ductile Tearing Instability of a Center-
Cracked Panel of an Elastic-Plastic Strain Hardening Material," ASME and
(£).-" (A-4)

JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY, Vol. 103, No. 1, 1981,


pp. 46-54. dJr
r )/ «„/ =5PiT^rPL)
(\ i da = -j- (A-5)
22 Zahoor, A., "Tearing Instability of Elastic-Plastic Crack Growth," D. ' da J
r ~da
SC. dissertation, Washington University, Saint Louis, 1978.
23 Smith, E., "Theoretical Justification for the Association of a Critical When equations (A-l) and (A-3), combined together with
Net-Section Stress with Fracture Initiation at a Crack Tip," Int. J. of Pressure equations (A-4) and (A-5), are substituted in equation (28),
Vessel and Piping, Vol. 8, 1980, pp. 303-311. the result shown in equation (29) is obtained.

200/Vol. 103, JULY 1981 Transactions of the ASME

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