Peridynamic investigation of stress corrosion cracking in carbon steel pipes

Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) is the nucleation and propagation of crack due to a combined effect of mechanical stress and chemical corrosion, which may lead to unexpected failure. Specially, pitting corrosion is an extremely localized corrosion style, where micro cracks are easily formed. Experiments and traditional computational methods suffer when dealing with materials failure in such a complex dynamic process. To this end, we present a numerical study of SCC in corrosion pits based on recently developed peridynamic method. The simulation is implemented based on carbon steel pipes with different corrosion types and loading conditions. Circumferential and Longitudinal crack patterns are observed due to bending and internal pressure, respectively. We also find the critical loads to initiate macroscopic crack and compare the process of dynamic growth due to different corrosion pits and loads. The results provide guidance for structural design and engineering practice.