Development Of Application Software Using Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics & Fatigue Crack Propagation For Designing Cylindrical Pressure Vessels Subject to Internal & External Pressures

Abstract

In order to ensure safety & reliability, it is necessary to predict the behavior of cracks under the application of various types of loading conditions. It is very necessary to know how fast the crack grows and how strong the cracked structure is. In the process Industries pressure vessels find wide applications. In order to predict the behavior of pre-existing cracks/defects in the pressure vessel component while in the working condition, it is essential to study them through Linear Elastic fracture Mechanics and fatigue crack propagation approach. Crack analysis of Cylindrical Pressure Vessels subjected to internal and external pressures is carried out using fundamentals of Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics & Fatigue. To help this developing software is the basic aim of this project. Through the cross section of the literature it is found that there are defects in the cylindrical components of pressure vessels. Study of the same is in chapter 2 of this report. Modules for each crack type contained in the cylindrical pressure vessel component is prepared in Visual Basic and analysis is carried out. Result gives us the plots for fatigue & LEFM, also gives analytical solution for the life of the component. Thus behavior of the crack is analyzed.