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AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION INTO THE OPERATIONAL SAFETY OF A WELDED PENSTOCK BY A FRACTURE MECHANICS APPROACH
Author(s) -
Sedmak S.,
Sedmak A.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
fatigue and fracture of engineering materials and structures
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.887
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1460-2695
pISSN - 8756-758X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1460-2695.1995.tb01415.x
Subject(s) - penstock , welding , structural engineering , ultimate tensile strength , fracture mechanics , materials science , residual strength , fracture (geology) , pressure vessel , tensile testing , yield (engineering) , engineering , composite material
—Three different fracture mechanics approaches were applied to two full‐scale penstock model tests. The two models were produced, using a Sumiten 80P HSLA steel (minimum yield strength 700 MPa and minimum ultimate tensile strength 800 MPa), in the form of pressure vessels. The first experiment was a burst test performed on a pre‐cracked model to determine crack arrest properties. The second experiment was a hydro‐pressure test on a model with no cracks and this enabled a post‐yield experimental analysis of the undermatched weld metal, when cracks did not initiate. Crack driving forces, obtained numerically, and J‐R curves, obtained by the J ‐integral direct measurement on tensile panels, were used to predict the residual strength. The overall behaviour of a welded penstock under load was analysed on the basis of the results of these three approaches, allowing an evaluation of the significance of cracks.