During fracture toughness testing of C(T) specimens, an important assumption is that the test specimen is highly constrained. This is ensured by testing a deeply cracked specimen, with in-plane and out-of-plane dimensions that are sufficient to guarantee an appropriate level of crack tip stress triaxiality. This condition guarantees that high-constraint fracture toughness values are derived, conservative for use in standard fracture mechanics assessments.
In reality, many components have small out-of-plane dimensions (small thicknesses). This often causes a reduction in crack tip constraint of a sufficient amount to increase the effective fracture toughness of the components. However, there is currently limited understanding as to the magnitude of the benefits that could be claimed from out-of-plane constraint loss.
Finite element and damage modelling of thin C(T) specimens under different loading conditions has been undertaken, looking at the effects of loss of out-of-plane constraint, to help validate the results of an on-going testing programme. When available, data from testing of thin C(T) specimens could allow the parameters of the damage model, based upon a ductile criterion, to be calibrated. Material resistance to fracture under different situations has been determined, leading to a correlation of toughness to the constraint condition for a nominal set of material parameters.
A key aspect of any numerical simulation to predict welding induced residual stresses is the development and application of an appropriate material model. Often significant effort is expended characterising the thermal, physical and hardening properties including complex phenomena such as high temperature annealing. Consideration of these aspects is sufficient to produce a realistic prediction for austenitic steels, however ferritic steels are susceptible to solid state phase transformations when heated to high temperatures. On cooling a reverse transformation occurs, with an associated volume change at the isothermal transformation temperature.
Although numerical models exist (e.g. Leblond) to predict the evolution of the metallurgical phases, accounting for volumetric changes, it remains a matter of debate as to the magnitude of the impact of phase transformations on residual stresses. Often phase transformations are neglected entirely. In this work a simple phase transformation model is applied to a range of welded structures with the specific aim of assessing the impact, or otherwise, of phase transformations on the magnitude and distribution of predicted residual stresses. The welded structures considered account for a range of geometries from a simple ferritic beam specimen to a thick section multi-pass weld. The outcome of this work is an improved understanding of the role of phase transformation on residual stresses and an appreciation of the circumstances in which it should be considered.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.