Estimation of C* Integral for Mismatched Welded Compact Tension Specimen

The C* integral for the compact tension (CT) specimen is calculated using the estimation equation in ASTM E1457-15. This equation was developed based on the assumption of material homogeneity and is not applicable to a welded CT specimen. In this paper, a modified equation for estimating the C* integral for a welded compact tension (CT) specimen under creep conditions is proposed. The proposed equation is defined on the basis of systematically conducted extensive finite element (FE) analyses using the ABAQUS program. A crack in the welded CT specimen is located in the center of the heat-affected zone (HAZ), because the most severe type IV cracks are located in the HAZ. The results obtained by the analysis show that the equation for estimating the C* integral in ASTM E1457-15 can underestimate the value of the C* integral for creep-soft HAZ and overestimate for creep-hard HAZ. Therefore, the proposed modified equation is suitable for describing the creep crack growth (CCG) of welded specimens.