Effect of mismatching on J-integral for pipe-welded joints with circumferential through-wall crack

In this article, a J-integral estimation scheme of circumferential through- wall cracked pipe welds under pure bending is introduced. Three-dimensional elasto-plastic finite element computations are carried out, as pipe materi als usually have a yielding plateau. Compared with the solution of the fini te element method, the results indicate that the LBB.ENG3 scheme is easy to use and can give a satisfactory and reasonable J-integral estimation solut ion. Finally, the effect of mismatching on the J-integral for pipe-welded j oints is discussed in detail. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights res erved.