An extension of the application of elastic-plastic assessment to cracked pipework systems Original Research Article

Some of the current methods for assessing cracked structures made of high toughness materials come under the scope of elastic-plastic fracture mechanics (EPFM). However, these methods only evaluate flawed sections and do not consider their inclusion into framed structures. Stress distributions in redundant structures vary with the stiffness of their elements. As the stiffness of cracked elements changes with crack length, the structureʹs stress distribution is modified by crack extension. This paper presents a method for assessing high toughness redundant cracked piping systems taking into account the interaction between stress distribution and crack extension. The methodology is illustrated by solving some examples using the proposed method and comparing the results with those that would have been obtained using conventional practices.