Fatigue and fracture behavior of A516 steel used in thick-walled pressure vessels

In this paper, the growth of semi-elliptical crack in the walls of thick-walled cylindrical pressure vessels was investigated. The signicance of the crack growth in cylindrical pressure vessels provides numerical and experimental 3D models for the growth of fatigue crack and estimates the fatigue life of pressure vessels. Because of available geometric and physical parameters, the fatigue life of these pressure vessels can be predicted more precisely than the existing standard tests, i.e., experimental and numerical. The most common specimen of thick-walled tanks, steel, was analyzed to conduct experimental tests. The mechanical properties and fatigue behavior of A516 steel were determined experimentally. For estimating the crack growth and calculating the fatigue life, the boundary element method and linear fracture mechanics equations were used. Finally, the experimental results of fatigue crack growth were compared with the numerical method, which yielded acceptable results. The overall results showed good agreement between the experimental data and numerical results.