Numerical study on the effect of the Lüders plateau on the ductile crack growth resistance of SENT specimens

The increasing demand of energy prompts the petroleum industry exploitation activities to the Arctic region where the low temperature is a strong challenge, both for structural design and material selection. For structural materials exhibiting the Luders plateau, it has been reported that lowering the temperature will increase the Luders plateau length. In order to obtain a deep understanding of the Luders plateau effect on ductile crack growth resistance, we performed numerical analyses with SENT specimens and the Gurson damage model. The Luders plateau was simplified by keeping the flow stress constant and varying the plateau length. The results show that the existence of the Luders plateau does not influence the initiation toughness, however, will alter the material’s fracture resistance significantly. It is found that the Luders plateau effect is in general controlled by the stress triaxiality level in front of the crack tip. Both the strain hardening and the crack depth effects on resistance curves are alleviated due to the Luders plateau. For materials with very small initial void volume fraction, the Luders plateau effect is more pronounced. Since the Luders plateau intensifies the crack driving force and may lower down crack resistance curve, special attention should be paid to the application of materials with the Luders plateau in the Arctic.