Nonlinear elastic-plastic stress investigation for two interacting 3-D cracks in offshore pipelines

• Published in: Fatigue & fracture of engineering materials & structures Vol. 38; no. 5; pp. 540 - 550
• Main Authors: Zhang, Y. M., Ariffin, M. Z., Xiao, Z. M., Zhang, W. G., Huang, Z. H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.05.2015; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Crack propagation; Cracks; CTOD; Fatigue failure; fracture assessment; Fracture mechanics; Mathematical models; Metal fatigue; Nonlinearity; Offshore; Offshore engineering; Pipelines; Three dimensional; two interacting cracks
• ISSN: 8756-758X; 1460-2695
• DOI: 10.1111/ffe.12259

Under continuous loading conditions, small closely distanced cracks can grow and coalesce into a large one that may subsequently pose a threat to the integrity and safety of structures. Although many research works were carried out for predicting fatigue growth of multiple cracks, few papers focusing on nonlinear elastic–plastic analysis of multiple cracks' fracture behaviours can be referred to. In this study, 3‐D elastic–plastic investigation has been performed on fracture behaviours of two collinear cracks located in offshore pipelines. The influences of the cracks configuration, the separation distance and internal pressure of the pipeline on the crack behaviours are investigated. On the basis of the numerical results, a new strain‐based crack tip opening displacement estimation method is proposed for assessing the fracture behaviour of flawed pipelines with two interacting collinear cracks.