Elastic stress and deformation analyses on an all-steel cylinder without defects and with axial cracks

Using the three-dimensional elastic finite element method, stress analyses and the deformation analyses on an all-steel cylinder without defects and w ith axial cracks were carried out. The severe effect of the defects on an a ll-steel cylinder was shown through comparisons of the stress analyses and the deformation analyses on the cylinder without defects and with an axial crack. The analyses show that there appear both the inhomogeneous deformati on and the stress singularities around the defects. The influences of defec t size, internal pressure and defect types (internal crack or external crac k), on the stress distributions and on the deformation distributions were d iscussed. The crack mouth opening displacement and the stress intensity fac tor K-I for the cylinders containing the axial deep cracks, which was detec ted in a practical applied cylinder, were presented and discussed. The effe cts of the location of the cracks (whether external or internal) and the sh ape of the through-thickness crack front (whether elliptical or straight fr ont) on the crack driving forces are quantified. All the results of the str ess analysis, the deformation analyses and the fracture analyses are suppor ted by each other very well. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights rese rved.