Prediction of cleavage fracture from non-sharp defects using the Weibull stress based toughness scaling model

The structural integrity assessment of engineering plant is based on the principles of fracture mechanics that assume defects to be sharp cracks. Whilst conservative, this assumption may be overly conservative in some situations, e.g. for defects that are non-sharp. This paper describes the prediction of cleavage fracture initiation from blunt notches of varying root radii using the Weibull stress based toughness scaling model. Failure predictions are compared with the results of experiments performed on single edge notch bend SE(B) specimens containing both cracks and notches of varying notch root radii. Cleavage initiation sites were located close to the peak tensile stress ahead of the notch, implying that a tensile stress criterion is the main controlling factor for cleavage fracture. The cleavage fracture predictions from the toughness scaling model correlate well with the experimental data; but care needs to be taken to ensure that calibration of the Weibull parameters references fracture toughness data from constraint levels that span that of the defect of interest. This ensures the model interpolates between the constraint states used for calibration, rather than extrapolating outside the range of applicability. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.