Creep fatigue crack growth of semi-elliptical defect in austenitic stainless steel plates

In this paper, a creep-fatigue crack growth test performed on a large austenitic stainless steel plates containing a 1/2 elliptical Centred Notch under Bending (SCNB specimen) is presented. The experimental crack growth data is simulated using global fracture mechanics parameters including Delta K and C* issued from the reference stress approach for the determination of the respective fatigue and creep growth rates. The methods are presented in detail and the choice of the reference stress for the calculation of the global parameters is examined. It is found that the methods provide predictions in good agreement with the experimental data.