Biaxial stress effects on estimating J under combined mechanical and thermal stresses

In this paper, the applicability to bi-axial stress states of a simple approximation proposed in our previous work for quantifying the elastic-plastic J under combined primary and secondary stresses is investigated.To produce the bi-axial stress states, circumferential cracked pipes under combined pressure, axial tension (or compression) and thermal stresses are considered. The results suggest that the proposed approximation can be applied to bi-axial stress states, and is slightly more conservative for bi-axial mechanical stresses than for uni-axial ones. The degree of conservatism decreases with increasing strain hardening exponent and with increasing relative magnitude of secondary stress. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.