The Effect of Stress Concentrations on the Creep Rupture of Tension Panels

Abstract

The creep rupture behavior of metals at high temperatures is reviewed for constant homogeneous states of multiaxial stress. Currently used methods for estimating the creep rupture life of engineering structures are discussed. The rupture lives of plane stress tension plates containing discontinuities are predicted by the different methods. The estimates of life are compared with the results of experiments carried out on copper and aluminum plates. It is shown that the magnitudes of the elastic and steady-state stresses do not influence the rupture behavior of the tension plates examined. The redistribution of stress in the structures which occurs due to tertiary creep plays an important part in determining the rupture lives. A method of predicting lower bounds on the structural rupture lives is presented and shown to closely predict the results of experiments.