ANALYSES ON INTERACTIONS OF 2 IDENTICAL SEMIELLIPTIC SURFACE CRACKS IN THE INTERNAL SURFACE OF A CYLINDRICAL PRESSURE-VESSEL

This paper analyzes the interactions of two coplanar identical semi-el liptical surface cracks in the internal surface of a cylindrical press ure vessel. Few numerical solutions appear to be available in the lite rature so far for this kind of interaction. The analyzed ratios of the wall thickness to the radius of the cylinder (t/R(i)) are 0.1 acid 0. 25; the ratios of crack depth to crack length (b/a) are 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0; the relative distances between the centers of two cracks (a/d) ar e 0.5, 0.7 and 0.9. In total 36 crack configurations are analyzed. The mode I stress intensity factors along the crack front are presented. The numerical analyses are carried out by the hybrid boundary element method.