Fracture mechanics based design procedures for pressurized components having part-through cracks

This paper presents a fracture mechanics based design procedure for pressurized components having part-through cracks, Fracture critical stresses are evaluated for the assumed crack configurations and the fracture envelopes are obtained for these configurations, For small size crack configurations, Feddersen's type correction is made for proper estimation of critical stress values. Residual strength of unbroken ligament is a more appropriate criterion for the design of thin sections with part-through cracks, A criterion based on the ligament failure is defined for cases where the critical fracture stresses are above the material yield stress value, The procedure is illustrated by presenting an example of a pressurized tankage used in aerospace industry.