A Study on the Fracture Behavior of a Two Dimensional Crack in Gas Pipelines Considering Constraint Effects

EFP(Fitness For Purpose) type defect assessment methodologies based on ECA(Engineering Critical Analysis) have been established and are in use for the structural integrity evaluation of gas pipelines. ECA usually includes the fracture mechanics analysis, and it is assumed that the J-integral uniquely characterizes the crack-tip stress-strain field. However, it has been proven that the J-integral alone can not be sufficient to characterize the crack-tip field under low levels of constraint with a single parameter. Since pipeline structures are made of ductile material, locally loaded in tension, cracks may experience low level of constraint, and therefore, J-dominance will be lost. For this reason, the level of constraint must be quantified to establish a precise assessment procedure for pipeline defects. The objective of this paper is to investigate the fracture behavior of a crack in gas pipeline(KS D 3507) by quantifying the level of constraint. For this purpose, tensile tests and CTOD tests were performed at room temperature(24) and low temperature(-40) to obtain the material properties. J-Q analyses were performed for SENB and SENT specimens based on 2-D finite element analyses, in order to investigate the in-plane constraint effects on pipeline defects. For precise assessment of cracks, especially shallow cracks, in KS D 3507 pipeline, constraint effect must be considered.