Toughness requirements for steel structural components with surface flaws

Fracture mechanic safety analyses consist of a comparison between material toughness and toughness requirement of the investigated structure. For the selection of suitable materials the requirements must be known. The fracture mechanics toughness requirements for a structural component depend on several parameters. Load case, geometry of the component and of a postulated or detected flaw, strength of the steel and the chosen safety criterion are decisive for the toughness requirements. Performing three-dimensional elastic plastic finite element analyses the toughness requirements for plates of high strength structural steels with surface flaws have been determined as a function of the above mentioned parameters.