Alternative approaches and developments in fracture toughness testing and failure assessment of pressure vessels

Abstract

The Phenomenon of catastrophic failure due to crack like defects in structural materials poses problems of design and analysis in many fields of engineering Aerospace structures, thermal power plants and nuclear power plants are typical fields where safety ins of paramount importance Fracture Mechanics refers to a vital area in solid mechanics to find quantitative relations between crack length, the material inherent resistance to crack growth and the stress at failure Fracture toughness is a generic term for measures of materials resistance to extension of a crack newline