Flaw Stability in Mild Steel Tanks in the Upper-Shelf Ductile Range—Part II: J-Integral-Based Fracture Analysis

Abstract

The J-integral fracture methodology was applied to evaluate the stability of postulated flaws in mild steel storage tanks. The material properties and the J-resistance (JR) curve were obtained from the archival A285 Grade B carbon steel test data. The J-integral calculation was based on the center-cracked panel (CCP) solution of Shih and Hutchinson (1976, ASME J. Eng. Mater. Technol. 98 , pp. 289–295). A curvature correction was applied to account for the cylindrical shell configuration. A finite element analysis of an arbitrary flaw in the storage tank demonstrated that the curvature-corrected CCP solution is a close approximation. The maximum storage tank fluid level for a postulated flaw size can be established based on the J-integral flaw stability methodology. [S0094-9930(00)00502-3]