Development of Leak-Rupture Criteria for Axially Through-Wall Cracked Pipelines v

摘要

J-integral based fracture mechanics is adopted to characterize the fracture behavior from crack initiation, stable growth to tearing instability, and used to determine an effective leak-rupture criterion for pipelines with axial through-wall cracks (TWC). A plastic influence function method is proposed for correctly estimating J driving force for cracked plates and pipes. Then using J-integral fracture mechanics theory, the failure pressures of a TWC pipe at fracture initiation and instability are determined analytically, leading to definition of a leak-rupture boundary. The results show that the proposed method is a simple and conceptually sound basis to determine the J driving force, with the potential to provide to an improved leak-rupture criterion for pipeline applications.