Fatigue crack growth of tubular joints under stochastic and complex loadings

Conference · Sun Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:264126

Abel, A; Wu, S; Yu, X ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Sydney (Australia)

Fatigue analysis of tubular joints is an important part of the design process of offshore structures. Tubular joints are randomly subjected to combined loadings with variable amplitude involving axial force and bending moments. In this paper using the line-spring element method the stress intensity factors of the surface cracks located at saddle and crown positions of tubular T-joints are calculated for loading conditions of axial forces, in-plane bending and out-of-plane bending applied on branches. Polynomials are introduced to describe the relationship between non-dimensional stress intensity and crack depth for cracks with various shapes and loading conditions. Thus, using linear elastic fracture mechanics and the Paris` Law fatigue crack growths can be computed cycle by cycle leading to fatigue life or remaining fatigue life calculations. The Monte Carlo method is introduced to simulate random loadings and the incredibility of the method is estimated in statistical means. Several combinations of stochastic loadings are considered and the obtained lives are compared.

• OSTI ID: 264126
• Report Number(s): CONF-950604--; ISBN 1-880653-20-6
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
CRACK PROPAGATION
FAILURE MODE ANALYSIS
FATIGUE
JOINTS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MECHANICAL TESTS
OFFSHORE PLATFORMS
STRESS ANALYSIS
ULTIMATE STRENGTH