Residual stress analysis of an external grooved thick-walled pressure vessel

Residual stress analysis of an autofrettaged thick-walled pressure vessel containing an external groove was described in order to calculate the stress concentration at the external groove. The autofrettage residual stress distributions of the external grooved thick-walled pressure vessel were simulated using an equivalent thermal loading from the analogy of thermal and autofrettage residual stress fields. Thermal stresses due to the simulated thermal loadings for various degrees of autofrettage overstrain level were computed using finite element methods. Very high stress concentration factors due to autofrettage loadings were obtained at the external groove root that contained a sharp root radius. Experimental measurement of residual stresses for a fully autofrettaged smooth thick-walled pressure vessel using an equivalent saw cut method resulted in very close agreement with the theoretical autofrettage residual stress distributions. The stress analysis results implied that the autofrettage residual stress concentration might cause a cracking problem at the external groove root of the thick-walled pressure vessel, indicating that lower autofrettage overstrain and a groove geometry change were desirable for enhanced durability.