Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Provisions for avoiding brittle fracture in steels used in Australasia including effects of seismic action

Welding in the World volume 66, pages 1229–1250 (2022)Cite this article

Abstract

Steel structures can suffer from three modes of possible damage, which are brittle fracture, fatigue and corrosion. Corrosion can be mitigated by the applications of protective coatings, fatigue damage can be controlled by in-service inspection, and in contrast, a brittle fracture is a sudden event that only can be avoided by proper design, material selection. Inspection, probability of detection of cracks and material toughness must be considered simultaneously to avoid brittle fracture. To ensure the structural integrity of components, systems and procedures such as SINTAP and Eurocode have been developed, and the following. These procedures were applied to the steel manufactured to the European standards only. The application of the method was transferred to steels referenced in Australian and New Zealand design standards AS4100, NZS3404.1 and AS/NZS5100.6, and specifications. Several steel standards of importance in Australasia have been also considered, such as the new EN 10025, EN 10210, EN 10219, JIS G 3106, JIS 3114, API 5L and ASTM 709. The steel selection procedure has been extended by seismic considerations based on the IIW Recommendations for Assessment of Risk of Fracture.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1

Abbreviations

a :

Crack depth measured from surface

a 0 :

Initial crack depth

a f :

Final crack depth

b eff :

Effective length at crack front

c :

½ crack length at surface

C 0 :

Constant of the Paris-Erdogan power law

da :

Increment of crack

dN :

Increment of cycles

f y :

Yield stress

K :

Stress intensity factor (SIF)

K * appl, d :

Applied SIF with all corrections from R6 method

K mat :

Toughness of the material

K r :

SIF relative to Kmat

L r :

Load stress relative to fy

m :

Exponent of the Paris-Erdogan power law

M k(a):

Correction function for weld toe transition

r :

Radius

t :

Wall thickness

t 0 :

Reference wall thickness

T 27 J :

Temperature at a Charpy-V-notch energy of 27 J

T Ed :

Lowest allowable service temperature

T md :

Basic design temperature in NZ standards

Y(a):

General correction function for K

γ ov :

Overstrength factor

ΔT :

Temperature difference

ΔT R :

Safety margin in terms of service temperature

ΔT έ :

Temperature difference due to strain rate

ΔT ε, cf :

Temperature difference due to strain from cold forming

Δσ :

Stress range

ε :

Strain

έ :

Strain rate

έ 0 :

Reference strain rate

ε cf :

Strain from cold forming

σ :

Stress

σ (s,d) :

design value of stress action

References

  1. Hobbacher AF, Karpenko M, Hicks SJ, Schneider P, Uy B (2019) Establishing new brittle fracture provisions for the Australasian steel structures standards. J Construct Steel Res. 155:20–32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Landolfo R, Negro P, Beg D, Aribert J-M, Jose Castro M, Degee H, Dinu F, Dubina D, Elghazouli A, Elnashai A, Vigh Gergely L, Gioncu V, Hjiaj M, Hoffmeister B, Martin P-O, Mazzolani F, Piluso V, Plumier A, Rebelo C, Sedlaceck G, Stratan A (2013) Assessment of EC8 provisions for seismic design of steel structures, ECCS European Convention for Constructional Steelwork

  3. (2003) IIW Recommendations for Assessment of Risk of Fracture in Seismically Affected Moment Connections. Weld World. 47:18–37

  4. SINTAP, Structural integrity assessment procedures for European industry, Final Procedure, European Union Brite-Euram Programme. Project No. BE95-1426, Contact No. BRPR-CT95-0024, 1996.

  5. Webster S, Bannister A (2000) Structural integrity assessment procedure for Europe – of the SINTAP programme overview. Eng Fract Mech. 67:481–514

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. EN 1993-1-10 Eurocode 3 (2005) Design of steel structures. Material toughness and through-thickness properties, British Standards Institute

  7. Milne I, Ainsworth RA, Dowling AR, Steward AT (1986) Assessment of the integrity of structures containing defects. Central Electiricty Generation Board CEGB, Report R/H/R6 Revision 3, UK

  8. Hobbacher A (1993) Stress intensity factors of welded joints. Eng Fract Mech. 46(2):173–182, et Vol 49(1994) No 2, p 323

  9. Gurney TR (1991) The fatigue strength of transverse fillet welded joints: a study of the influence of joint geometry, Elsevier

  10. Hobbacher AF (2016) Recommendations for fatigue design of welded joints and components. Springer, Heidelberg, New York, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  11. EN 1993-1-9 Eurocode 3 (2005) Design of steel structures. Fatigue, The British Standards Institution

  12. ASTM E399-90 (1997) Standard test method for plane-strain fracture toughness of metallic materials, ASTM, (Wallin)

  13. Sanz G (1980) Essai de mise au point d’une méthode quantitative de choix des qualités d’aciers vis-à-vis du risque de rupture fragile. Rev Met Paris. 77:621–642

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Kühn B (2005) Beitrag zur Vereinheitlichung der europäischen Regelungen zur Vermeidung von Sprödbruch (Contribution to the unification of the European codes for avoiding of brittle fracture), Schriftenreihe Stahlbau-RWTH Aachen, 480 pages

  15. Sedlacek G, Feldmann M, Kühn B, Höhler S, Müller C, Hensen W, Stranghöner N, Dahl W, Langenberg P, Münstermann S, et al. (2008) Commentary and Worked Examples to EN 1993-1-10 “Material toughness and through thickness properties” and other toughness oriented rules in EN 1993, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities

  16. Ogle MH, Burdekin FM, Hadley I (2003) Material selection requirements for civil structures. Weld World. 47:201–229

    Google Scholar 

  17. prEN 1993-1-10:2018 2nd draft Eurocode 3: design of steel structures — part 1-10: material toughness and through-thickness properties

  18. Feldmann M, Eichler B, Kühn B, Stranghöner N, Dahl W, Langenberg P, Kouhi J, Pope R, Sedlacek G, Ritakallio P, Iglesias G, Puthli RS, Packer JA Krampen J (n.d.) Choice of steel material to avoid brittle fracture for hollow section structures; EUR 25400 EN; JRC72702 https://doi.org/10.2788/463273

  19. (2013)IIW Recommendations for Assessment of Risk of Fracture in Seismically Affected Moment Connections. Weld World. 47(4)

  20. SAC Joint Venture (2000) Recommended Seismic Design Criteria for New Steel Moment-Frame Buildings, FEMA-350. Federal Emergency Management Agency, USA

    Google Scholar 

  21. EN 1998-1 (2004) Design of structures for earthquake resistance

  22. NZS 3404.1:1997 (1997) Steel structures Standard, Standards New Zealand

  23. AS/NZS 3678 (2016) Structural steel—hot-rolled plates, floorplates and slabs

  24. AS/NZS 3679.1 (2016) Structural steel - hot-rolled bars and sections

  25. AS/NZS 1163 (2016) Cold-formed structural steel hollow sections.

  26. AS 3597 (2008) Structural and pressure vessel steel - quenched and tempered plate, Standards

  27. AS 4100 (1998) Steel structures, Standards Australia

  28. AS/NZS 5100.6 (2017) Bridge design steel and composite construction, Standards Australia / Standards New Zealand

  29. EN 10025-2 (2004) Hot rolled products of structural steels – part 2: technical delivery conditions for non-alloy structural steels.

  30. EN 10025-3 (2004) Hot rolled products of structural steels – part 3:technical delivery conditions for normalized/normalized rolled weldable fine grain structural steels.

  31. EN 10025-4 (2004) Hot rolled products of structural steels – part 4: technical delivery conditions for thermomechanical rolled weldable fine grain structural steels.

  32. EN 10025-5 (2005) Hot rolled products oof structural steels – part 5: technical delivery conditions for structural steels with improved atmosheric corrosion resistance.

  33. API Specification 5L, Line Pipe, Forty-Sixth Edition, April 2018, American Petrol Institute

  34. JIS G 3106 (2008) Rolled steels for welded structure, Japanese Standard Association

  35. ASTM 709/709M-18 (n.d.) Standard Specification for Structural Steel for Bridges

  36. Steel Bridge Design Handbook - Bridge Steels and Their Mechanical Properties (FHWA-HIF-16-002 - Vol. 1), U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration (2005)

  37. AASHTO (2007) LRFD Bridge Design Specification (4th Edition), American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Washington, DC

  38. BS 7910:2019 (2019) Guide to methods for assessing the acceptability of flaws in metallic structures, BSI Standards Publication

  39. Kühn B, Krieglstein T (2017) Suifficent choice of material to avoid brittle fractures of foundation components of offshore wind power plants made of steel in accordance with EC3 part 1–10. CE/papers. 1:601–618

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. BS 5400 (1982) Steel, concrete and composite bridges, British Standard Institution

  41. IIW document X-1965r2-2020 (2020) Provisions for avoiding brittle fracture in steels used in Autralasia. International Institute of welding

  42. EN 10219-1 (2006) Cold formed welded structural hollow sections of non-alloy and fine grain steels –

  43. EN 10210-1 (2006) Hot finished structural hollow sections of non-alloy and fine grain steels –

  44. Newman JC, Raju IS (1983) Stress Intensity factor equations for cracks in three-dimensional finite bodies. ASTM STP, pp I-235-I-265

Download references

Acknowledgements

We express our appreciation to Alistair Fussell for his comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. We also thank our colleagues, Dr Stephen Hicks, Patrick Schneider and Dr Brian Uy who provided expertise that assisted the earlier publication [1].

Funding

This research was supported by the HERA Foundation, Antarctica New Zealand and Eastbridge Ltd.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jade University of Applied Sciences, Wilhelmshaven, Germany

    Adolf F. Hobbacher

  2. Heavy Engineering Research Association (HERA), Auckland, New Zealand

    Michail Karpenko

Authors
  1. Adolf F. Hobbacher
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michail Karpenko
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Adolf F. Hobbacher.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Recommended for publication by Commission X - Structural Performances of Welded Joints - Fracture Avoidance

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hobbacher, A.F., Karpenko, M. Provisions for avoiding brittle fracture in steels used in Australasia including effects of seismic action. Weld World 66, 1229–1250 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40194-021-01241-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40194-021-01241-w

Keywords

search

Navigation