Prediction of fully plastic J-integral for weld centerline surface crack considering strength mismatch based on 3D finite element analyses and artificial neural network

• Main Authors: Chuanjie Duan, Shuhua Zhang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2020-01-01
• Series: International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
• Subjects: Weld surface crack; Strength mismatch; Fully plastic J-integral; Finite element analyses; Back-propagation neural network
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2092678220300108

This work mainly focuses on determination of the fully plastic J-integral solutions for welded center cracked plates subjected to remote tension loading. Detailed three-dimensional elastic–plastic Finite Element Analyses (FEA) were implemented to compute the fully plastic J-integral along the crack front for a wide range of crack geometries, material properties and weld strength mismatch ratios for 900 cases. According to the database generated from FEA, Back-propagation Neural Network (BPNN) model was proposed to predict the values and distributions of fully plastic J-integral along crack front based on the variables used in FEA. The determination coefficient R2 is greater than 0.99, indicating the robustness and goodness of fit of the developed BPNN model. The network model can accurately and efficiently predict the elastic-plastic J-integral for weld centerline crack, which can be used to perform fracture analyses and safety assessment for welded center cracked plates with varying strength mismatch conditions under uniaxial loading.