The recent development of analysis methodology for rapid crack propagationand arrest in gas pipelines

Several dynamic analysis issues relating to rapid crack propagation (RCP) a nd arrest in gas piplines were developed recently, and are presented in thi s paper. This is based on a fluid/structure/fracture interaction package, P FRAC. Some developments have been implemented into this finite element code to simulate the behavior of the fractured pipes. The criteria for crack in itiation, propagation and arrest have been discussed. As the crack propagat es along the pipeline, the gas pressure decompression ahead of the crack ti p and an efficiency of a linear decay behind the crack have been used in th e computation. For the calculation of crack driving force G, the numerical approaches using the nodal force release and energy balance methods are des cribed. This paper also presents a novel analysis methodology that has been developed to investigate the suitability of crack arrestors. Several numer ical results for the cracked steel pipes with arrestors are presented along with comparisons with pipes that do not have arrestors.