Crack Growth Rate Analysis of Stress Corrosion Cracking

Abstract

A theoretical film rupture model was used for computational procedure to predict the crack growth rate within the Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC) conditions. Chemical, electrochemical and mechanical aspects of the SCC were analyzed and set into the computer program to calculate crack growth rate. Extended Finite Element Model (XFEM) was applied to calculate Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) in two loading modes - tensile test specimen and compact tension (CT) specimen. Elastic-plastic fracture mechanics (EPFM) was used for CT specimen. The computational model was verified with experimental results published in literature. Results have shown good agreement in two cases analysed here, stainless and common structural steel, indicating great potential of the XFEM to simulate the crack growth rate within the SCC conditions.

Keywords

• film rupture model
• finite element method
• fracture mechanics
• stress intensity factor