Abstract
Three-dimensional, elastic-plastic finite element analyses for circumferential through-wall cracked pipes are performed using actual tensile data of stainless steels, for two purposes. The first one is to validate the recently-proposed enhanced reference stress (ERS) method to estimate the J-integral and COD for circumferential through-wall cracked pipes. The second one is to compare those results with the GE/EPRI estimations. It is found that the J-integral and COD estimations according to the GE/EPRI method can be very sensitive to how the stress-strain data are fitted using the Ramberg-Osgood relation. Moreover, no tendency can be found regarding the most appropriate fitting range for the Ramberg-Osgood fit. On the contrary, the J-integral and COD estimations based on the ERS method give more accurate results than the GE/EPRI estimation. The present results provide confidence in applying the proposed method to the Leak-Before-Break(LBB) analysis.