• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.105-112
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• 2002

In recent years, the integrity of reactor Pressure Vessel(RPV) under pressurized thermal shock (PTS) accident has been treated as one of the most critical issues. Under PTS condition, the combination of thermal and mechanical stress by steep temperature gradient and internal pressure causes considerably high tensile stress at the inside of RPV wall. As a result, cracks on inner surface of RPV may experience elastic-plastic behavior which can be characterized by J-integral. In such a case, however, J-integral may possibly lose its vapidity due to the constraint effect. The degree of constraint effect is influenced by the loading mode, crack geometry and material properties. In this paper, in order to investigate the effect of clad thickness and crack geometry on constraint effect, three dimensional finite element analyses were performed for various surface cracks. Total of 27 crack geometries were analyzed and results were presented by a two-parameter characterization based on the J-integral and the f-stress.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.14-21
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• 2021

Inner shell material of LNG storage tanks that store ultra-low temperature LNG at -162℃ requires structural integrity assessment of a crack-like defect. From the viewpoint of conventional fracture mechanics, the assessment has mainly performed by single parameter using stress intensity factor K, J-integral and CTOD. However, the stresses in a material of crack tip are not unique caused by constraint loss due to size and geometry of the structure. Various attempts have been made to complement a single parameter fracture mechanics, typically with Q-stress. In this paper, we have performed a two-parameter approach by deriving the Q-stress coupling with J-integral suitable for the evaluation of the crack tip stress field in the non-linear elastic region. A quantitative evaluation of the constraint effect has performed by using the J-Q approach. It was evaluated that the SENB type specimen had a crack ratio of 0.1 to 0.7 and the wide type specimen had a crack ratio of 0.2 to 0.6.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2000.04a
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• pp.908-913
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• 2000

In the process of integrity evaluation for nuclear power plant components, a series of fracture mechanics evaluation on surface cracks in reactor pressure vessel(RPV) must be conducted. These fracture mechanics evaluations are based on stress intensity factor, K. However, under pressurized thermal shock(PTS) conditions, the combination of thermal and mechanical stress by steep temperature gradient and internal pressure causes considerably high tensile stress at the inside of RPV wall. Besides, the internal pressure during the normal operation produces high tensile stress at the RPV wall. As a result cracks on inner surface of RPVs may experience elastic-plastic behavior which can be explained with J-integral. In such a case, however, J-integral may possibly lose its validity due to constraint effect. In this paper, in order to verify the suitability of J-integral, two dimensional finite element analyses were applied for various surface crack. Total of 18 crack geometries were analyzed, and Q stresses were obtained by comparing resulting HRR stress distribution with corresponding actual stress distributions. In conclusion, HRR stress fields were found to overestimate the actual crack-tin stress field due to constraint effect.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.61-69
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• 2001

EFP(Fitness For Purpose) type defect assessment methodologies based on ECA(Engineering Critical Analysis) have been established and are in use for the structural integrity evaluation of gas pipelines. ECA usually includes the fracture mechanics analysis, and it is assumed that the J-integral uniquely characterizes the crack-tip stress-strain field. However, it has been proven that the J-integral alone can not be sufficient to characterize the crack-tip field under low levels of constraint with a single parameter. Since pipeline structures are made of ductile material, locally loaded in tension, cracks may experience low level of constraint, and therefore, J-dominance will be lost. For this reason, the level of constraint must be quantified to establish a precise assessment procedure for pipeline defects. The objective of this paper is to investigate the fracture behavior of a crack in gas pipeline(KS D 3507) by quantifying the level of constraint. For this purpose, tensile tests and CTOD tests were performed at room temperature(24$\^{C}$) and low temperature(-40$\^{C}$) to obtain the material properties. J-Q analyses were performed for SENB and SENT specimens based on 2-D finite element analyses, in order to investigate the in-plane constraint effects on pipeline defects. For precise assessment of cracks, especially shallow cracks, in KS D 3507 pipeline, constraint effect must be considered.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.24 no.12
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• pp.2963-2971
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• 2000

In order to obtain more realistic fracture resistance curve, research is currently underway to introduce new parameter and to quantify the constraint effect. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between the constraint effect of a size(plane size and thickness) and the fracture resistance curve. In this paper fracture toughness tests were performed with various plane size and various thickness of specimens in two materials. The test results showed that the effects of plane size in th4 J-R curve were significant and the curve was risen with an increase in plane size. However, relatively weak influence was observed form the change of the specimen thickness and size. The stress fields near the crack tip of th specimen is close to the HRR field according to increasing the plane size and Q stress appears different value according to material properties and the plane size.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.2158-2173
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• 2004

In this paper, the higher order terms in the crack tip stress fields are investigated macroscopically for more realistic assessment of structural material behaviors. For reactor pressure vessel material of A533B ferritic steel, effects of crack size and temperature have been evaluated using 3-point SENB specimens through a series of finite element analyses, tensile tests and fracture toughness tests. The T-stress, Q-parameter and q-parameter as well as the K and J-integral are calculated and mutual relationships are investigated also. Based on the evaluation, it has proven that the effect of crack size from standard length (a/W=0.53) to shallow length (a/W=0.11) is remarkable whilst the effect of temperature from -20$^{\circ}C$ to -60$^{\circ}C$ is negligible. Finally, the cleavage fracture toughness loci as a function of the promising Q-parameter or q-parameter are developed using specific test results as well as finite element analysis results, which can be applicable for structural integrity evaluation considering constraint effects.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.1924-1930
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• 2021

By using miniature SENB specimens, the fracture properties of the materials in the region of welded metal, 321 stainless steel heat affected zone, 690 alloy heat affected zone of 321/690 dissimilar metal girth welded joints were tested. Both the J-resistance curves and critical fracture toughness of the three different materials are affected by the crack size because of the effect of crack tip constraint. Groups of constraint corrected J-resistance curves of the three materials are obtained according to J-Q-M approach. The welded metals exhibit the best fracture resistance but the worst fracture resistance is observed in the material of 690 alloy heat affected zone.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.38 no.11
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• pp.1207-1214
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• 2014

Under excessive plasticity, the fracture toughness of a material depends on its size and geometry. Under fully yielded conditions, the stresses in a material near its crack tip are not unique but rather depend on the geometry. Therefore, the single-parameter J-approach is limited to a high-constraint crack geometry. The JQ theory has been proposed for establishing the crack geometry constraints. This approach assumes that the crack-tip fields have two degrees of freedom. In this study, the crack-tip stress field of a fully circumferential surface-cracked pipe under combined loads is investigated on the basis of the JQ theory by using finite element analysis. The combined loads are a tensile axial force and the thermal gradient in the radial direction. Q-stresses of the crack geometry and its loading state are used to determine the constraint effects. The constraint effects of secondary loading are found to be greater than those of primary loading. Therefore, thermal shock is believed to be the most severe loading condition of constraint effects.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.473-474
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• 2009

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.29 no.1 s.232
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• pp.107-114
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• 2005

In order to analyze the elastic-plastic fracture behavior of a structure, the fracture resistance curve of the material should be known first. The standard CT specimen was used to obtain the fracture resistance curves of a piping system. However, it is known that the fracture resistance curve by the standard CT specimen is very conservative to evaluate the integrity of a structure. Also the fracture resistance curve is effected by the specimen geometry and the dimensions because of the constraint effect. The objective of this paper is to be certain the conservativeness of the fracture resistance curve by the standard CT specimen and to provide an additional safety margin. For these, the fracture tests using a real pipe specimen and the standard CT specimen test were performed. A 4-point bending jig was manufactured for the pipe test and the direct current potential drop method was used to measure the crack extension and the length for the pipe test. Also finite element analyses were performed with a CT specimen and a pipe in order to prove the additional safety margin. From the result of tests and analyses of the pipe and the standard CT specimen, it was observed that the fracture analysis with the standard CT specimen is conservative and the additional safety margin was proved.