Validation of the Deformation Plasticity Failure Assessment Diagram (DPFAD) Approach—The Case of an Axial Flaw in a Pressurized Cylinder

Abstract

Abstract The validation of the deformation plasticity failure assessment diagram (DPFAD) approach for application to the prediction of failure pressures for pipes or pressure vessels with axial flaws is addressed in this paper. The DPFAD approach has been extensively documented with regard to its validity in open literature for various configurations of test specimens. For actual structural configurations, however, no such comparisons appear in open literature. In particular, the model of a part-through wall axial flaw in a pressurized cylinder has not been validated through comparisons with actual structural tests results. Two sources of test data from structural tests of axially flawed pressurized cylinders were evaluated. • Heavy-Section Steel Technology (HSST) intermediate test vessels. • Eiber/Battelle Columbus Laboratories (BCL) axially cracked pipes. The DPFAD axial flaw model was developed using finite-element results to generate calibration constants as functions of crack depth to wall thickness and crack depth to crack length for an axially oriented semi-elliptical flaw on the inside surface of a pressurized cylinder. The calibration constants were then used to generate failure assessment curves that can be used to assess or predict failure of pipes or vessels with axial flaws under pressure loading. A key assumption in the analysis was the use of the failure assessment curve for the inside surface flaw in the prediction of outside-surface-flawed cylinder failures. Based on the excellent results from the comparisons with predicted failures to actual vessel and pipe failures, this assumption was found to be reasonable. Furthermore, based on predicted test results of the HSST vessel tests and the Eiber/BCL pipe tests, it was concluded that the DPFAD semi-elliptical axial flaw model can be used reliably in assessing part-through flaws in pressurized vessels and pipes.