Assessments of structures with postulated or existing defects are generally carried out using standards and engineering assessment procedures. Assessments of this type involve comparing an applied force, in this case the crack driving force, with a material property, which in this case is the material's resistance to fracture, its fracture toughness. The crack driving force J can be calculated directly or implicitly by using a failure assessment diagram. Assessments can be based on either the initiation of the growth of a crack or, when dealing with ductile fracture, on an amount, e.g. 2 mm, of ductile tearing. Material fracture toughness values are obtained by testing high constraint specimens such as deeply cracked compact tension specimens and single edge notched bend specimens under uniaxial loading conditions. The high constraint of the test specimens provides conservative measurements of the fracture toughness for most applications. However, this assumption of conservatism is not necessarily applicable where there are biaxial loading conditions. The literature concerning assessments of such components mainly discusses whether uniaxial loading conditions provide conservative estimates of fracture toughness. Crack driving forces under biaxial loading can be overestimated, leading to a loss of conservatism. Conversely, biaxial loading could be beneficial and thus an approach that is consistently conservative has implications for the cost and time involved in the consequences of prematurely assessing or predicting the failure of a structure or component. This research considers the effects of biaxial loading on all the parameters involved in the integrity assessment of structures, components and specimens with defects. These parameters include the crack driving force, material fracture toughness, internal stresses and limit loads. It will address their relative effects on the determination of failure when compared with the assumption of uniaxial loading. The methods used will be analytical, using the equations and theories of standard solid mechanics, fracture mechanics and existing advice in R6 and the literature, and numerical using finite element analyses. Experimental, analytical and numerical work in the literature will be assessed and discussed and their outcomes compared with the findings of this research. The overall aim is to provide more explicit advice on the assessment of defects in components under biaxial loading in the R6 procedure.

A series of experiments and finite-element simulations were performed in order to assess existing void coalescence criteria and propose a new model for the coalescence of cylindrical holes in a pure metal matrix during uniaxial stretching. The finite-element simulations were performed so that various plastic limit-load models could be evaluated at each strain increment during deformation, rendering predictions concerning the farfield strains required for coalescence. The experiments were performed in order to identify the actual far-field strain at the moment of incipient coalescence for the specimen geometries considered. The cylindrical-void models of Thomason (1990) and McClintock (1966) outperformed all of the other considered models in their original states. A modified form of the Ragab (2004) plastic limit-load model is proposed in the present work and is shown to have good agreement with the experimental results. The present model accounts for ligament work-hardening and ligament orientation.

A avaliação numérica das cargas limites (de colapso) de estruturas é obtida geralmente ou pela aplicação direta dos teoremas de análise limite junto com processos de otimização ou mediante análises incrementais, que levam em consideração o comportamento elasto-plástico do material. Entretanto, ambas as estratégias conduzem eventualmente a dificuldades numéricas, particularmente para cargas próximas à de colapso. Neste trabalho, emprega-se uma alternativa que consiste em simular assintoticamente o comportamento elasto-plástico mediante uma relação elástica não-linear. As vantagens deste tipo de formulação são a possibilidade de se lidar com leis de fluxo não-associadas e um custo computacional reduzido. A relação elástica não-linear é implementada no programa comercial de elementos finitos ABAQUS, através de uma sub-rotina externa ao programa escrita em linguagem FORTRAN. Diversos exemplos de estruturas cujos materiais são regidos pelos critérios de resistência de von Mises e Drucker-Prager são modelados, verificando-se que os resultados das cargas limites obtidas com essa formulação são muito próximos daqueles encontrados na literatura. Por fim, a relação elástica não-linear é empregada para a determinação do domínio de resistência de meios porosos, com diferentes níveis de porosidade. / The numerical assessment of limit loads of structures is generally achieved through the direct implementation of limit analysis theorems together with optimization processes, or through incremental analyses, which account for the elastic-plastic behavior of the material. However, both the strategies may lead to numerical difficulties, particularly when the load is close to its limit value. In this context, the alternative approach presented in this work consists in simulating asymptotically the regime of free plastic flow by means of a fictitious non-linear elastic material. One of the main advantages of this kind of formulation lies in its ability to deal with non-associated flow rules and a reduced computational cost. The non-linear elastic behavior is implemented into the finite element computational software ABAQUS, making use of an external subroutine written in FORTRAN language. Several examples of geotechnical and structural problems with materials ruled by von Mises and Drucker-Prager failure criteria are analyzed. The results obtained with this formulation prove to be very close to those obtained through analytical solutions. At last, the non-linear elastic relation is used in the determination of the resistance domain of porous media with different levels of porosity.

A avaliação numérica das cargas limites (de colapso) de estruturas é obtida geralmente ou pela aplicação direta dos teoremas de análise limite junto com processos de otimização ou mediante análises incrementais, que levam em consideração o comportamento elasto-plástico do material. Entretanto, ambas as estratégias conduzem eventualmente a dificuldades numéricas, particularmente para cargas próximas à de colapso. Neste trabalho, emprega-se uma alternativa que consiste em simular assintoticamente o comportamento elasto-plástico mediante uma relação elástica não-linear. As vantagens deste tipo de formulação são a possibilidade de se lidar com leis de fluxo não-associadas e um custo computacional reduzido. A relação elástica não-linear é implementada no programa comercial de elementos finitos ABAQUS, através de uma sub-rotina externa ao programa escrita em linguagem FORTRAN. Diversos exemplos de estruturas cujos materiais são regidos pelos critérios de resistência de von Mises e Drucker-Prager são modelados, verificando-se que os resultados das cargas limites obtidas com essa formulação são muito próximos daqueles encontrados na literatura. Por fim, a relação elástica não-linear é empregada para a determinação do domínio de resistência de meios porosos, com diferentes níveis de porosidade. / The numerical assessment of limit loads of structures is generally achieved through the direct implementation of limit analysis theorems together with optimization processes, or through incremental analyses, which account for the elastic-plastic behavior of the material. However, both the strategies may lead to numerical difficulties, particularly when the load is close to its limit value. In this context, the alternative approach presented in this work consists in simulating asymptotically the regime of free plastic flow by means of a fictitious non-linear elastic material. One of the main advantages of this kind of formulation lies in its ability to deal with non-associated flow rules and a reduced computational cost. The non-linear elastic behavior is implemented into the finite element computational software ABAQUS, making use of an external subroutine written in FORTRAN language. Several examples of geotechnical and structural problems with materials ruled by von Mises and Drucker-Prager failure criteria are analyzed. The results obtained with this formulation prove to be very close to those obtained through analytical solutions. At last, the non-linear elastic relation is used in the determination of the resistance domain of porous media with different levels of porosity.

A avaliação numérica das cargas limites (de colapso) de estruturas é obtida geralmente ou pela aplicação direta dos teoremas de análise limite junto com processos de otimização ou mediante análises incrementais, que levam em consideração o comportamento elasto-plástico do material. Entretanto, ambas as estratégias conduzem eventualmente a dificuldades numéricas, particularmente para cargas próximas à de colapso. Neste trabalho, emprega-se uma alternativa que consiste em simular assintoticamente o comportamento elasto-plástico mediante uma relação elástica não-linear. As vantagens deste tipo de formulação são a possibilidade de se lidar com leis de fluxo não-associadas e um custo computacional reduzido. A relação elástica não-linear é implementada no programa comercial de elementos finitos ABAQUS, através de uma sub-rotina externa ao programa escrita em linguagem FORTRAN. Diversos exemplos de estruturas cujos materiais são regidos pelos critérios de resistência de von Mises e Drucker-Prager são modelados, verificando-se que os resultados das cargas limites obtidas com essa formulação são muito próximos daqueles encontrados na literatura. Por fim, a relação elástica não-linear é empregada para a determinação do domínio de resistência de meios porosos, com diferentes níveis de porosidade. / The numerical assessment of limit loads of structures is generally achieved through the direct implementation of limit analysis theorems together with optimization processes, or through incremental analyses, which account for the elastic-plastic behavior of the material. However, both the strategies may lead to numerical difficulties, particularly when the load is close to its limit value. In this context, the alternative approach presented in this work consists in simulating asymptotically the regime of free plastic flow by means of a fictitious non-linear elastic material. One of the main advantages of this kind of formulation lies in its ability to deal with non-associated flow rules and a reduced computational cost. The non-linear elastic behavior is implemented into the finite element computational software ABAQUS, making use of an external subroutine written in FORTRAN language. Several examples of geotechnical and structural problems with materials ruled by von Mises and Drucker-Prager failure criteria are analyzed. The results obtained with this formulation prove to be very close to those obtained through analytical solutions. At last, the non-linear elastic relation is used in the determination of the resistance domain of porous media with different levels of porosity.