The Influence of Crack Propagation Angle on the Stress Intensity Factors (SIFs) of Cracked Tubular T-Joints

This paper focuses on the crack propagation angle effects on the stress intensity factors of a 3-D semi-elliptical surface crack in tubular T-joints. A robust mesh generator is created and used in modeling and analyzing a wide range of tubular T-joints. The mesh elements are generated by using MATLAB programming language then analyzed using ABAQUS software. The numerical model results are firstly compared with existing experimental results for verification which shows a good agreement with a maximum deviation of 3.44%. Then, the influence of the crack propagation angle on the stress intensity factors is determined, along the crack front, on 1200 CHS T-joint with semi-elliptical surface crack. It has been found that the crack propagation angle influenced the stress intensity factor at the crack front and subsequently the fatigue life of tubular T-joints. The stress intensity factor specially at the deepest point of the crack increases as crack propagation angle increases. The effect of the crack propagation angle on the SIF is directly proportional with the crack depth and crack length.