Very low cycle fatigue properties of butt welded joints containing weld defects. Study of acceptable size of defects in girth welds of gas pipelines

Abstract

Summary This paper describes an investigation of the very low cycle fatigue strength of HT570 steel welded joints containing weld defects to determine the acceptable size of weld defects in girth welds of underground gas pipelines subjected to cyclic ground displacements due to earthquakes. Butt welded joints containing incomplete penetration (IP), blowholes (BH), lack of fusion in theintermedi‐ate pass (LF), and cracks in the penetration bead (CR) were prepared and tested under strain‐controlled conditions. All specimens tested in the present research study satisfy the fatigue design curve for girth welds of underground gas pipelines. The fatigue strength of specimens containing weld defects generally decreases with an increasing equivalent defect size. The shape of a crack initiated from a defect is affected by the reinforcement, with the surface crack propagating rapidly along the weld toe of the penetration weld over the width of the specimen. The relationship between the J‐integral range and the crack propagation rate under a very low cycle fatigue load is virtually the same as the extension of the relationship in the low J‐integral range. A crack propagation analysis based on the defect being regarded as a crack is performed to determine the relationship between the defect size and the number of cycles over the plate thickness. The critical size of defects in welds of gas pipelines under cyclic ground displacements is proposed by the analysis. The critical crack size of surface defects is applicable to buried defects, because surface defects give a more conservative evaluation than buried defects. The analytical results provide more conservative estimations than the experimental ones.