Fatigue Life Prediction of an Autofrettaged Thick-Walled Pressure Vessel With an External Groove

An autofrettaged thick-walled pressure vessel with an external groove subjected to a pulsating internal pressure can have fatigue failures at the external groove root due to the combination of tensile autofrettage residual stress, operating stress, and stress concentration. To predict the fatigue life of the autofrettaged thick-walled pressure vessel with an external groove, the local strain approach was applied. The residual stress distribution due to autofrettage and the operating stress distribution due to internal pressure were determined using finite element analysis which resulted in theoretical stress concentration factors. To account for the mean stress effects on the fatigue life prediction of the pressure vessel, low-cycle fatigue behavior with several strain ratios was obtained using smooth axial specimens taken from the ASTM A723 thick-walled steel pressure vessel. Fatigue life predictions were made by incorporating the local strains determined from the linear rule and Neuber’s rule and the Morrow and SWT mean stress parameters determined from low-cycle fatigue tests. The predicted fatigue lives were within factors of 2 to 4, compared to simulated experimental fatigue lives based upon fatigue cracks of 2.5 mm in length. These procedures appear to be realistic for evaluating fatigue lives for this complex pressure vessel.