EFFECT OF SPECIMEN SIZE ON ELASTIC-PLASTIC FATIGUE CRACK GROWTH AND RESISTANCE CURVE OF CARBON STEEL

In order to investigate the ultimate strength of structures and components under an unexpected huge earthquake, it is necessary to understand the final fracture condition under static and cyclic loadings. This study compared the crack growth behavior under monotonic and cyclic loading conditions for carbon steel SGV410 used for pressure vessels in nuclear power plants. Fatigue tests were carried out for CT specimens 50 mm wide (1CT), 75 mm wide (1.5CT) and 100 mm wide (2CT) using three kinds of test methods, namely monotonic loading (ML), load line displacement amplitude increasing (V-inc.) and fatigue crack growth (FCG) tests. For the FCG tests, the maximum load was kept constant under cyclic loading with full unloading (R = 0), fully reversed loading (R =1) and fully reversing the load line displacement (R = 1.5) and the crack growth characteristics were evaluated by the fracture mechanics approach. NOMENCLATURE ao Initial crack length (mm