Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 30 (1998) 51±63

Plastic strip model of cracked weld joint with residual stresses

1
Q.C. Liu
Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, Center for Advanced Materials Technology, University of Sydney, NSW,
Australia

Abstract
The e€ect of residual stresses on the fracture behavior of a cracked weld joint is studied by making use of the
continuous dislocation formulation. Considered are the plastic zone length of the strip model zone and the opening
displacement of a crack that is normal to both weld line and base metal boundary; they depend on the character of the
yield stresses for the base metal (BM), weld material (WM), and heat a€ected zone (HAZ). The crack driving force is
found to increase with the tensile residual stress while crack initiation and growth are suppressed if the residual stress is
compressive. Moreover, the plastic zone and crack opening displacement are found to decrease linearly with the HAZ
yield strength as the HAZ width is increased for HAZ yield strength greater than that of BM. Ó 1998 Elsevier Science
Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction because of the lack of the accurate measurement

It is well known [1,2] that residual stresses will
unavoidably prevail in all weld structures. This is
caused by uneven contractions of di€erent metal
properties during the weldment process as solidi-
®cation takes place. Phase transformation upon
cooling also attributes to residual stresses which
combined with applied stresses could a€ect the
performance and fracture behavior of welded
joints in service [3,4]. It is, therefore, important to
understand and know how these factors would
in¯uence the failure behavior of welded joints and/
or structures.
While the need for a better understanding of
weldment failure has been recognized, e€ective
procedures for determining the precise in¯uence of
residual stresses are still not fully developed mainly
1
Corresponding author.
0167-8442/98/$ ± see front matter Ó 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 1 6 7 - 8 4 4 2 ( 9 8 ) 0 0 0 4 5 - 7
techniques, particularly for the three-dimensional
con®gurations. Nonhomogeneity of the weld joint
materials causes additional diculties. Discussed
in [4,5] is the e€ect of the residual stress in a
cracked plate with plasticity. The critical load to
extend the crack was found to reduce when the
residual stress is tensile depending on the extent of
plastic ¯ow. However, the result did not consider
the extension of plastic zone into the Base metal
(BM), Weld material (WM), and Heat a€ected
zone (HAZ). More elaborate analyses of weldment
where the BM, WM, and HAZ acquire di€erent
yield stresses and undergo elastic±plastic defor-
mation have been performed for smooth weld
joints [6] and joints with initial defect [7]. In both
situations, failure is predicted by the energy den-
sity criterion to occur in the HAZ. Residual stress
e€ects, however, were not included.
In the previous work [8], the e€ects of residual
stress were studied without the presence of the
HAZ which is included in this paper. The yield
52 Q.C. Liu / Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 30 (1998) 51±63

stress, width and position of the HAZ will be an- Zÿe ÿZ

d‡h†
alyzed. f x; t† dt f x; t† dt
A3 ‡ A3
tÿx tÿx
ÿc ÿe

2. Theoretical analysis Zÿd Zÿa

f x; t† dt f x; t† dt
‡ A2 ‡ A1
Depicted in Fig. 1 is a schematic of the ana- tÿx tÿx
ÿ d‡h† ÿd
lytical model where an external shear stress P(x) is
applied parallel to the crack plane at in®nite. Za Zd
f x; t† dt f x; t† dt
Plasticity is assumed to be con®ned into two strips ‡ A1 ‡ A1
tÿx tÿx
[9] extending through the WM, BM, and HAZ. ÿa a
Residual stresses caused by welding are assumed Z
d‡h† Ze
not to be in¯uenced by the presence of the crack. f x; t† dt f x; t† dt
‡ A2 ‡ A3
tÿx tÿx
d d‡h†
2.1. Dislocation density distribution functions
Zc
f x; t† dt
Let a crack and plastic zone be represented by ‡ A3 ˆ P x† ‡ R x† ÿc < x < c†;
an array of continuous dislocations, the density of tÿx
e
which can be determined by satisfying the pre-
1†
scribed boundary and single-valued conditions.
The image force for dislocations is not needed where f(t) is the dislocation density at any point
because the elastic properties such as Young's along the x-axis. The constants A1 , A2 and A3 are
moduli and Poission's ratios in the WM, BM, and related to the material parameters such as shear
HAZ are the same. moduli, l, poisson ratio, m, and Burger's vector b.
Based on the dislocation theory, the distribu- The resultant stress is P(x) and the residual weld
tion of edge dislocations at any point within the stress is R(x). In Eq. (1), e is the location of the
crack and plastic zone subjected to the applied, point of residual stress reversal that depend on the
frictional stresses and residual stresses can be distribution of residual weld stress.
written for equilibrium as Eq. (1) will be solved by rewriting it in the form

Fig. 1. Plastic strip dislocation model for weld joint with constant tensile/compressive residual weld stress distribution.
 Q.C. Liu / Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 30 (1998) 51±63 53

Zc the total number of dislocations within the crack

F t† dt and plastic zones is equal to a constant,
ˆ P x† ‡ R x†; 2†
tÿx
ÿc Zc
F x† dx
where F(t) is the normalized distribution function ˆ C: 5†
tÿx
of the dislocation density de®ned as ÿc
8
< A1 f t†
> jtj < d†; No net dislocation correspond to C ˆ 0 as the
F t† ˆ A2 f t† d < jtj < d ‡ h†; 3† usual case. For simplicity, the residual weld stress
>
: distribution R(x) is assumed to be of the form [4,5]
A3 f t† d ‡ h < jtj < c†:
in Fig. 2, i.e.
Generally, P(x) is a function of the x-coordinate,  h
depending on the both applied and friction stresses sR ; jxj < e;
R x† ˆ 6†
which may vary from region to region. For sim- slR ; e < jxj < c;
plicity, assume P(x) is constant within each mate-
rial, the crack and the plastic zone, such that where shR is the tensile residual stress and slR is the
8 compressive residual stress. These residual stresses
> r jtj 6 a†; act on the crack plane in the y-axis direction.
>
>
<r ÿ r a < jxj < d†;
f ;1 The general solution bounded at x ˆ ‹c for the
P x† ˆ 4†
>
> r ÿ rf ;2 d < jtj < d ‡ h†; normalised dislocation density distribution is given
>
:
r ÿ rf ;3 d ‡ h < jtj < c†; by [10]

where r is the external stress. The frictional stress rf ;3 ÿ rf ;2 † c2 ÿ d ‡ h†x
F x† ˆ coshÿ1
in WM, HAZ and BM are denoted, respectively, p 2 c d ‡ h ÿ x†
by rf ;1 , rf ;2 and rf ;3 . 
2
In the equilibrium, the function f(x) (or F(x)) ÿ1 c ‡ d ‡ h†x
ÿ cosh
must also satisfy the compatibility condition, i.e. c d ‡ h ‡ x†

Fig. 2. E€ect of the tensile residual stress on plastic zone size length.
54 Q.C. Liu / Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 30 (1998) 51±63

r  
f ;2 ÿ rf ;1  ÿ1 c2 ÿ dx ÿ1 c2 ‡ dx
‡ cosh ÿ cosh
p2 c d ÿ x† c d ‡ x†
  r  c2 ÿ ax
c2 ‡ dx f ;1 ÿ1
ÿ coshÿ1 ‡ cosh
c x ‡ d† p2 c a ÿ x†
 2

rf ;1 c2 ÿ ax c ‡ ax
‡ 2 coshÿ1 ÿ coshÿ1
p c a ÿ x† c a ‡ x†
  h 
c2 ‡ ax sR ÿ slR ÿ1 c2 ÿ ex
ÿ coshÿ1 ‡ cosh
c a ‡ x† p2 c e ÿ x†
 h  2

rR ÿ rlR c2 ÿ ex c ‡ ex
‡ cosh ÿ1 ÿ coshÿ1 : 8†
p2 c e ÿ x† c e ‡ x†
2

c ‡ ex
ÿ coshÿ1 2.2. Plastic zone size
c e ‡ x†

rf ;3 ÿ rf ;2  d ‡h The plastic zone size or the ratio a/c controls the
‡ sinÿ1
p2 c fracture behaviour of a cracked body under large
r ÿ r   scale yielding. The di€erence between the yield
f ;2 f ;1 d 2x
‡ sinÿ1 p stresses across the boundaries dividing WM, BM
p2 c c2 ÿ x2
  h  and HAZ tends to disrupt the stress±strain ®eld or
rf ;1  ÿ1 a sR ÿ slR e the size of the plastic zone ahead of the crack.
‡ sin ‡ sinÿ1
p 2 c p 2 c Additional in¯uence will be attributed by the re-
 sidual stress.
1 ÿ
2x
‡ r ‡ slR ÿ rf ;3 p : 7† Since the stresses should be ®nite at the end of
2p c ÿ x2
2
the plastic zone, the plastic zone, c±a, can be ob-
The friction stress rf ;1 , rf ;2 and rf ;3 are taken as tained by equating the last two terms in Eq. (6) to
the material yield stresses. shR and slR are the tensile zero. This gives
and compressive residual stress, respectively. The ÿ
d ‡h ÿ
d
applied stress is s. rf ;3 ÿ rf ;2 sinÿ1 ‡ rf ;2 ÿ rf ;1 sinÿ1
c c
When the plastic deformation extends across ÿ1 a
ÿ h l

ÿ1 e
the HAZ into the base metal from the crack tip, a ‡ rf ;1 sin ‡ sR ÿ sR sin
c c
stress concentration is required to activate the p ÿ

‡ s ‡ slR ÿrf ;3 ˆ 0: 9†
dislocations. The bonded condition alienates the 2
stress singularity at the end of plastic zone (x ‹ c). Eq. (8) represents the relationship among the
Hence, the dislocation density function must be plastic zone size, the properties of WM, HAZ and
equal to zero at the end of the plastic zone in order BM and residual stresses. For a given crack length
to maintain continuity across the boundary. a, interface location, d, the HAZ width h and the
Therefore, the last two terms on the right side of position of transition of tensile residual stress and
Eq. (7) should be zero. It follows that compressive residual stress e, the location of the
 r ÿ r  2 plastic zone can be determined from the above
f ;3 f ;2 ÿ1 c ÿ d ‡ h†x equation, using the Newton±Rapson iteration
F x† ˆ cosh
p2 c d ‡ h ÿ x† method.
2

c ÿ d ‡ h†x
ÿ coshÿ1 2.3. Crack tip sliding (or opening) displacement
c d ‡ h ‡ x†
 r ÿ r  c2 ÿ dx
‡
f ;2 f ;1
cosh ÿ1 The relative sliding displacement across the
p2 c d ÿ x† crack faces at x ˆ a can be expressed by
 Q.C. Liu / Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 30 (1998) 51±63 55

Zc 4 1 ÿ m†  ryHAZ ÿ ryWM 
F x† dx ‡
dd ˆ bN ˆ b : 10†
A  p E
a c2 ÿ da
 d ÿ a† coshÿ1
Here N is the number of dislocations in the c d ÿ a†

plastic zone; F(x) the normalized dislocation den- ÿ1 c2
‡ da
sity distribution functions given by Eq. (8). ‡ d ‡ a† cosh
c d ‡ a†
Therefore, the crack tip sliding displacement be-  
8a 1 ÿ m†ryWM c 4 1 ÿ m† rhR ÿ rlR
comes ‡ ln ‡
pE a p E
b  rf ;3 ÿ rf ;2   2
dd ˆ c ÿ ea
A p2  e ÿ a† coshÿ1
 c e ÿ a†
c2 ÿ d ‡ h†a 2

 d ‡ h ÿ a†coshÿ1 c ‡ ea
c d ‡ h ÿ a† ‡ e ‡ a† coshÿ1 : 12†
c e ‡ a†
2

ÿ1 c ‡ d ‡ h†a
‡ d ‡ h ‡ a†cosh
c d ‡ h ‡ a†

b rf ;2 ÿ rf ;1  3. Discussions of results
‡
A p2
 A weld joint will invariably exhibit a certain
c2 ÿ da degree of inhomogeneity in the yield stresses. The
 d ÿ a† coshÿ1
c d ÿ a† global and the local fracture behavior will thus be
 a€ected. Residual stress gives rise to additional
ÿ1 c2 ‡ da
‡ d ‡ a† cosh e€ects. Yield stress inhomogeneity can be expres-
c d ‡ a†
sed by the ratios: MWB ˆ ryWM =ryBM (WM yield
2arf ;1 b c strength to BM yield strength) and MHB ˆ
‡ ln
p2 A a ryHAZ =ryBM (HAZ yield strength to BM yield
 h l
 strength).
sR ÿ sR ÿ1 c2 ÿ ea
‡ e ÿ a† cosh The data in Table 1 will be used in the example
p2 c e ÿ a†
 problems for an applied stress of 200 MPa.
c2 ‡ ea
‡ e ‡ a† coshÿ1 : 11†
c e ‡ a† 3.1. Plastic zone size e€ect

For mode I crack opening, the Burgers vector is As stated earlier, the e€ect of the residual weld
chosen to produce a displacement in the y direc- stress depends on its distribution and sign. Fig. 2
tion, i.e., perpendicular to the plane of the crack shows that the plastic zone size, rp , increase with
(Fig. 1). shR ; slR ; rf ;1 ; rf ;2 and rf ;3 are replaced re- the tensile residual stress rhR . However, rp de-
spectively, by rhR ; rlR ; ryWM ; ryHAZ and ryBM cor- creases with increasing compressive residual stress
respond to those for the WM, HAZ and BM, rlR as shown in Fig. 3. The e€ect is more pro-
respectively. Hence, the Mode I crack tip opening nounced at high values of rhR .
displacement becomes The residual stress distribution has an obvious
4 1 ÿ m†  ryBM ÿ ryHAZ  e€ect on the plastic zone size. At a given rlR value
dˆ of )100 MPa for (e ) a) < 1 mm where a are a
p E

c2 ÿ d ‡ h†a
 d ‡ h ÿ a†coshÿ1 Table 1
c d ‡ h ÿ a† Yield strength in MPa
2
 ryBM ryWM ryHAZ
c ‡ d ‡ h†a
‡ d ‡ h ‡ a†coshÿ1 250 100±500 100±500
c d ‡ h ‡ a†
56 Q.C. Liu / Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 30 (1998) 51±63

Fig. 3. E€ect of the compressive residual stress on plastic zone length.

half of crack length, the in¯uence of the position of Fig. 5 gives the comparison of the cases with
the residual stress reversal e is limited (Fig. 4). and without the HAZ. It can be seen that the
This e€ect is more signi®cant at higher rhR value for plastic zone size is greatly reduced by the presence
(e ) a) > 1 mm. of the HAZ that acts as an ``interlayer'' thus re-

Fig. 4. E€ect of residual stress reversal location on plastic zone length.

 Q.C. Liu / Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 30 (1998) 51±63
Fig. 5. Comparison of the cases with and without HAZ.
ducing the stress concentration between the inter-
face of the WM and BM. The HAZ also provides a
gradual change of the mechanical properties giving
rise to a ``shielding'' of the crack driving force
[11,12].
Figs. 6(a) and (b) display the variations of the
plastic zone length rp with the distance from the
crack tip to the interface between the WM and
HAZ (a±d) for ryWM equals to 375 MPa and 100
MPa, respectively. Note that rp increases with (a±
d) for ryWM > ryBM in Fig. 6(b).
The above results were obtained under the
condition of the constant mismatched ratios,
MWB ˆ ryWM /ryBM and MHB ˆ ryHAZ /ryBM . The
changes in these ratios, however, have a signi®cant
e€ect on the plastic zone size. Fig. 7 shows the
e€ect of the mismatched ratio MWB . Note that rp
decreases with increasing MWB . The reduction is
nearly 50% as MWB increases from 0.4 to 2.2.
Figs. 8 and 9 show the e€ects of the yield
strength of the HAZ ryHAZ and its width h on the
plastic zone length, respectively. For the given
yield strength of WM and BM, an increase of the
MHB ratio decreases the plastic zone length
(Fig. 8). The increase of the HAZ width also re-
sults in the decrease of the plastic zone length
(Figs. 8 and 9). Comparing to the results in [11]
57
without the residual stress the existence of residual
weld stress causes a substantial increase in the
plastic zone length as shown in Fig. 10.
3.2. Crack tip opening displacement
The crack tip opening displacement d, is shown
in Fig. 11 (a) for the cases where the yield strength
of WM ryWM is greater than that of BM ryBM . A
slight increase in d is observed as the crack tip
approaches the interface. The calculated result also
shows an increase in d with increase of the tensile
residual stress. However, if rhR is below a certain
value. e.g. 100 MPa, the interface distance (a±d)
has almost no e€ect. In the cases where the yield
strength of WM ryWM is smaller than that of MB
ryBM , the opposite results are observed. That is, as
the crack approaches the interface the crack tip
opening displacement decreases. It implies that the
``e€ective'' crack driving force is reduced,
Fig. 11(b). This result also suggests that the de-
crease of tensile residual weld stress is bene®cial as
it tends to reduce the possibility of crack initiation
and growth (Fig. 2). If this reduction is large en-
ough, the crack propagation may be arrested or
stopped as a result of the decrease of energy release
rate [12]. In practice, residual weld stress, can be
58 Q.C. Liu / Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 30 (1998) 51±63

Fig. 6. Plastic zone size dependence on distance crack tip to interface between WM and HAZ: (a) ryWM > ryBM ; (b) ryWM < ryBM .

relieved or reduced by post welding heat treatment ( ˆ ryHAZ /ryBM ) increases, the crack tip opening
or other mechanical techniques. displacement d decreases linearly. Increase in h
Fig. 12 shows the e€ect of the HAZ yield leads to a decrease in d. When ryHAZ is smaller
strength ryHAZ and its width h. As ryHAZ or MHB than ryBM or MHB > 1. That is, h increases with d.
 Q.C. Liu / Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 30 (1998) 51±63 59

Fig. 7. Relationship between plastic zone length and the mismatch ratio MWB .

This result may be predicted from this model. Ac-
cording to Eq. (12) and the results in [8], the crack
tip opening displacement, d can be rewritten as
d ˆ d0 ÿ MHB ÿ 1†f a; d; h† 13†
where MHB is the mismatched ratio between the
HAZ and BM; f(a, d, h) is a geometrical function.
The crack tip opening displacement at h ˆ 0 is
given by

Fig. 8. E€ect of HAZ yield strength on plastic zone length.

60 Q.C. Liu / Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 30 (1998) 51±63

Fig. 9. E€ect of HAZ width on plastic zone length.

Fig. 10. E€ect of HAZ yield strength on plastic zone length: with and without residual stress.

 
4 1 ÿ m†  ryBM ÿ ryWM  4 1 ÿ m† rhR ÿ rlR
d0 ˆ ‡
p E p E
c2 ÿ da 
 d ÿ a† coshÿ1
c d ÿ a† c2 ÿ ea
  e ÿ a† coshÿ1
c 2
‡ da c e ÿ a†
‡ d ‡ a† coshÿ1
c d ‡ a†
 Q.C. Liu / Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 30 (1998) 51±63 61

Fig. 11. Crack tip opening displacement: (a) ryWM > ryBM and (b) ryWM < ryBM .

 formula of the crack tip opening displacement for

c2 ‡ ea
‡ e ‡ a† coshÿ1 the case without the HAZ is recovered [13]. Simi-
c e ‡ a†
larly, the relationship among the plastic zone size,
8a 1 ÿ m†ryWM c the mismatched ratio and the HAZ width (Fig. 8)
‡ ln : 14†
pE a can also be derived. From Eq. (13) it can be seen
If a and d are given, f(a, d, h) is only dependent on that when MHB > 1, d linearly decreases with in-
the HAZ width (h). When h is equal to zero, f(a, d, creasing MHB . Conversely, if MHB < 1, the de-
h) ˆ 0. The last term in Eq. (12) disappears. The crease in MHB leads to increase in d.
62 Q.C. Liu / Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 30 (1998) 51±63
Fig. 12. Relationship between the crack tip opening displacement and HAZ yield strength.
4. Conclusions
The e€ect of residual weld stress and mismatch
of WM, BM, and HAZ yield strength have been
studied by the continuously distributed dislocation
method. Numerical results are obtained for the
strip model plastic zone length and crack opening
displacement. The following conclusions can be
made:
(1) The plastic zone size and crack opening
displacement for a weld joint are found to decrease
with increased mismatch of the yield stresses of
WM, BM and HAZ; they also depend on the
magnitude and distribution of the residual stresses
and the crack position with reference to the in-
terfaces that separate the yield stresses.
(2) For a weld joint where a WM is stronger
than BM, an increase in crack driving force will
prevail if the crack approaches the interface from a
stronger WM. Conversely, the crack driving force
is reduced if the WM is weaker than the BM.
(3) The HAZ yield strength tends to increase
with linear decrease of the plastic zone length and
crack tip opening displacement. The decrease de-
pends on mismatch of yield strength between HAZ
and BM in addition to the HAZ width. If the HAZ
yield strength is longer than that of the BM, in-
crease in HAZ width tends to decrease the crack
opening displacement and plastic zone length. The
opposite occurs if the condition is reversed.
Acknowledgements
The author acknowledges the support and en-
couragement on this study from professor Y.-W.
Mai, University of Sydney.
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