| EPSRC Reference: |
GR/L24779/01 |
| Title: |
FRACTURE MECHANICS ASSESSMENT OF FATIGUE CRACKS IN OFFSHORE TUBULAR STRUCTURES |
| Principal Investigator: |
Lee, Professor MMK |
| Other Investigators: |
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| Department: |
Civil Engineering |
| Organisation: |
Swansea University |
| Scheme: |
Standard Research (Pre-FEC) |
| Starts: |
01 April 1997 |
Ends: |
30 September 1999 |
Value (£): |
74,529
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
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Currently there is no reliable engineering methods for predicting stress intensity factors (SIFs) for cracks in tubular structures. Consequently, engineers involving in defect assessment of jacket structures have to resort to either simplified methods, which are unreliable, or expensive and unvalidated FE solutions. The proposed project will investigate and develop an engineering methodology which can predict fatigue crack growth based on accurate SIF solutions. A novel and well validated 3D FE cracked T-butt model developed recently at Swansea will be used to conduct a parametric study which will cover an extensive range of weld angles, weld toe radii, footprint widths and crack geometries. From these solutions, correction factors will be derived which can be applied to plain plate SIF solutions. The applicability of these solutions tubular joint cracks will then be ascertained by performing FE calculations on 3D FE cracked tubular joint models and by using the solutions to predict fatigue crack growth rates of test joints. The proposed procedure will also be used to examine the sensitivity of fatigue predictions to factors like thickness effect, weld toe geometry, degree of bending and multiple crack coalescence.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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| Project URL: |
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| Further Information: |
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| Organisation Website: |
http://www.swan.ac.uk |