CTOD ESTIMATES OF SURFACE CRACKED WIDE PLATES IN BENDING .1. FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSIS

Three dimensional elastic-plastic finite element analysis of the surface cracked wide plate in bending was performed. Applied crack tip opening displacement (CTOD) extracted from the finite element nodal displacements showed a good correlation with the experimental results. The crack tip at the bottom of the surface crack was in plane strain accompanied by the high plastic constraint. Applied CTOD was estimated by the WI-CTOD design curve and compared with the finite element results. The conservatism of the CTOD design curve was highly dependent on the definition of applied strain and the crack geometries. For the surface crack with aspect ratio of 0.1, the applied CTOD was underestimated in the large scale yield range.