Influence of Crack Size on Fracture Behavior of Heat Treated 2011 Al-Alloy Pipes Using Finite Element Analysis

The assessment of cracks in the gas pipe lines is very important with respect to safety. In this paper 3D finite element analysis and Taguchi technique were employed to investigate fracture criteria of AA2011 Al-alloy pipes subjected to different internal bursting pres-sures. The ultimate tensile strength criterion was employed to study the failure of pipes. The major dominating control factors were crack length and heat treatment of the pipes.