NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF STRESS INTENSITY FACTOR (SIF) OF A SURFACE CRACK IN TUBULAR KK-JOINTS

The estimation of the residual life of tubular joints in offshore engineering is dependent much on the accurate computation of the stress intensity factor (SIF) when a surface crack initiates and propagates along the weld toe in the joints of offshore platforms. The finite element mesh generation method of a tubular KK-joint containing a surface crack was firstly introduced. In the mesh generation of the surface crack along the weld toe of the tubular KK-joint, five types of elements, namely hexahedra element, quarter-point crack element (or collapsed prism element), prism element, pyramid element and tetrahedron element, were used. Thereafter, the SIFs along the crack front of a tubular KK-joint have been analyzed by using an interaction J-integral method.