Three-Dimensional Stress Intensity Factors for Ring Cracks and Arrays of Coplanar Cracks Emanating From the Inner Surface of a Spherical Pressure Vessel

Author(s):  
M. Perl ◽  
V. Berenshtein

Certain spherical pressure vessels are composed of two hemispheres joined together by a girth weld. These vessels are susceptible to multiple cracking along the weld resulting in one or more cracks developing from the inner surface of the vessel and creating either a ring (circumferential) crack, or an array of coplanar cracks on the equatorial-weld plane. In order to assess the fracture endurance and the fatigue life of such vessels it is necessary to evaluate the Stress Intensity Factors (SIF) distribution along the fronts of these cracks. However, to date, only two solutions for the SIF for an internal ring crack as well as two 3-D solutions for a single internal semi-elliptical crack prevailing in various spherical pressure vessels are available. In the present analysis, mode I SIF distributions for a wide range of ring, lunular, and crescentic cracks are evaluated. The 3-D analysis is performed, via the FE method employing singular elements along the crack front. SIFs for numerous ring cracks of different depths prevailing in thin, moderately thick, and thick spherical vessels are evaluated first. Subsequently, Three-dimensional Mode I SIF distributions along the crack fronts of a variety of lunular and crescentic crack array configurations are calculated for three spherical vessel geometries, with outer to inner radii ratios of R0/Ri = 1.01, 1.1, and 1.7 representing thin, moderately thick, and thick spherical vessels. SIFs are evaluated for arrays of density δ = 0 to 0.99; for a wide range of crack-depth to wall-thickness ratios, a/t, from 0.025 to 0.95; and for various lunular and crescentic cracks with ellipticities, i.e., the ratio of crack-depth to semi-length, a/c, from 0.2 to 1.5. The obtained results clearly indicate that the SIFs are considerably affected by the three-dimensionality of the problem and by the following parameters: the crack density of the array – δ, the relative crack depth – a/t, crack ellipticity – a/c, and the geometry of the spherical vessel – η. Furthermore, it is shown that in some cases the commonly accepted approach that the SIF for a ring crack of any given depth is the upper bound to the maximum SIF occurring in an array of coplanar cracks, of the same depth, is not universal.

Author(s):  
M. Perl ◽  
V. Bernstein

Some spherical pressure vessels are manufactured by methods such as the Integrated Hydro-Bulge Forming (IHBF) method, where the sphere is composed of a series of double curved petals welded along their meridional lines. Such vessels are susceptible to multiple radial cracking along the welds. For fatigue life assessment and fracture endurance of such vessels one needs to evaluate the Stress Intensity Factors (SIF) distribution along the fronts of these cracks. However, to date, only one 3-D solution for the SIF for a circumferential crack in a thick sphere is available, as well as 2-D SIFs for one through the thickness crack in thin spherical shells. In the present paper, mode I SIF distributions for a wide range of lunular and crescentic cracks are evaluated. The 3-D analysis is performed, via the FE method employing singular elements along the crack front, for five geometries representing thin, moderately thick, and thick spherical pressure vessels with outer to inner radius ratios of η = Ro/Ri = 1.01, 1.05, 1.1, 1.7, and 2.0. SIFs are evaluated for arrays containing n = 1–20 cracks; for a wide range of crack depth to wall thickness ratio, a/t, from 0.025 to 0.95; and for various ellipticities of the crack, i.e., the ratio of crack depth to semi crack length, a/c, from 0.2 to 1.5. The obtained results clearly indicate that the SIFs are considerably affected by the three-dimensionality of the problem and by the following parameters: the geometry of the sphere-η, the number of cracks in the array-n, the depth of the cracks-a/t, and their ellipticity-a/c.


Author(s):  
M. Perl ◽  
V. Bernstein

Some spherical pressure vessels are manufactured by methods such as the Integrated Hydro-Bulge Forming (IHBF) method, where the sphere is composed of a series of double curved petals welded along their meridional lines. Such vessels are susceptible to multiple radial cracking along the welds. For fatigue life assessment and fracture endurance of such vessels one needs to evaluate the Stress Intensity Factors SIF distribution along the fronts of these cracks. However, to date, only two-dimensional SIFs for one through the thickness crack in a thin spherical shells is available. In the present paper, mode I SIF distributions for a wide range of lunular and crescentic cracks are evaluated. The 3-D analysis is performed, via the FE method employing singular elements along the crack front, for three sphere geometries with outer to inner radius ratios of η = Ro/Ri = 1.1, 1.7, and 2.0. SIFs are evaluated for arrays containing n = 1–20 cracks,; for a wide range of crack depth to wall thickness ratio, a/t, from 0.025 to 0.8; and for various ellipticities of the crack, i.e., the ratio of crack depth to semi crack length, a/c, from 0.2 to 1.5. The obtained results clearly indicate that the SIFs are considerably affected by the three-dimensionality of the problem and by the geometrical parameters: the geometry of the sphere – η, the number of cracks in the array – n, the depth of the crack – a/t, and its ellipticity – a/c.


2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajkumar Shufen ◽  
Uday S. Dixit

Autofrettage is a metal forming technique widely incorporated for strengthening the thick-walled cylindrical and spherical pressure vessels. The technique is based on the principle of initially subjecting the cylindrical or spherical vessel to partial plastic deformation and then unloading it; as a result of which compressive residual stresses are set up. On the basis of the type of the forming load, autofrettage can be classified into hydraulic, swage, explosive, thermal, and rotational. Considerable research studies have been carried out on autofrettage with a variety of theoretical models and experimental methods. This paper presents an extensive review of various types of autofrettage processes. A wide range of theoretical models and experimental studies are described. Optimization of an autofrettage process is also discussed. Based on the review, some challenging issues and key areas for future research are identified.


1996 ◽  
Vol 118 (3) ◽  
pp. 357-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Perl ◽  
C. Levy ◽  
J. Pierola

Under certain conditions, numerous internal surface cracks develop in pressurized thick-walled cylinders, both in the radial and longitudinal directions. For fatigue life assessment of such vessels, the 3-D interaction effects among these cracks on the prevailing stress intensity factors (SIFs) need evaluation. In Part I of this paper, radial crack arrays are considered exclusively. The mode I SIF distribution for a wide range of semi-circular and semi-elliptical cracks are evaluated. The 3-D analysis is performed via the finite element method with the submodeling technique, employing singular elements along the crack front. SIFs are evaluated for arrays of up to n = 180 cracks; for a wide range of crack depth to wall thickness ratios, a/t, from 0.05 to 0.6; and, for various ellipticities of the crack, i.e., the ratio of crack depth to semicrack length, a/c, from 0.2 to 2. Using a least-squares fit, two simple expressions for the most critical (n = 2) SIFs are obtained for sparse and dense crack arrays. The formulas, which are functions of a/t and a/c, are of very good engineering accuracy. The results clearly indicate that the SIFs are considerably affected by the interaction among the cracks in the array as well as the three-dimensionality of the problem. In Part II of this paper, the interaction effects between longitudinal coplanar cracks will be analyzed.


2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 557-568
Author(s):  
Shiuh-Chuan Her ◽  
Hao-Hi Chang

In this investigation, the weight function method was employed to calculate stress intensity factors for semi-elliptical surface crack in a hollow cylinder. A uniform stress and a linear stress distribution were used as the two references to determine the weight functions. These two factors were obtained by a three-dimensional finite element method which employed singular elements along the crack front and regular elements elsewhere. The weight functions were then applied to a wide range of semi-elliptical surface crack subjected to non-linear loadings. The results were validated against finite element data and compared with other analyses. In the parametric study, the effects of the ratio of the surface crack depth to length ranged from 0.2 to 1.0 and the ratio of the crack depth to the wall thickness ranged from 0.2 to 0.8 on stress intensity factors were investigated.


2002 ◽  
Vol 124 (4) ◽  
pp. 440-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walied A. Moussa

The existence of arbitrarily oriented multiple cracks is a common problem in brittle materials. Some of these materials, such as ceramics, are used in mechanical and aerospace structures that suffer from aging. Because of that, such structures have shown some signs of sudden partial or total failure. The interaction and coalescence of multiple cracks may significantly affect the designed lives of aging structures. Knowledge of the growth behavior of interacting cracks is still limited. In this paper, a novel submodeling meshing algorithm is used to construct different cases of arbitrarily oriented identical surface cracks in a plate subjected to remote tension. These cases are solved using finite element analysis (FEA) and covered a wide range of crack geometries. The stress intensity factors (SIFs) and the energy release rates (G) for these cracks are calculated as a function of their relative orientation and the position along the interaction crack-front. In this paper, the studied ratio of crack depth to plate thickness, a/t, and to crack length, a/c, are kept at 0.2 and 0.3, respectively. Where possible, a comparison of the 3-D results with 2-D ones is also considered.


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