Numerical simulation of crack propagation in high-strength low-alloyed welded steel

Abstract

The industrial application of high-strength low-alloyed steel (HSLA) in welded structures has increased the demand for understanding fracture behavior and structural integrity assessment of this type of steel and produced welded joints. The aim of this paper is to simulate the experimental evaluation of the fracture mechanics specimens by using the micromechanical model. The investigation is performed on two standard single edge notch bend (SENB) specimens with imposed crack in the central region. Numerical analysis was carried out by using Simulia Abaqus software package on 2D models used to simulate the damage development on the local level. The comparison between numerical and experimental results is presented through measured values of J-integral, load-line displacement vu and crack growth resistance (J-Aa) curves. This paper shows that numerical simulations are promising in respect to their accuracy. The application of this model enables to decrease the amount of expensive experiments for determination of the load level that causes crack propagation.