Engineering Fracture Mechanics 70 (2003) 721730

www.elsevier.com/locate/engfracmech

A two-stage model for predicting crack growth

due to repeated thermal shock
B. Kerezsi, J.W.H. Price, R. Ibrahim

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Monash University, P.O. Box 197, Cauleld East, Vic. 3145, Australia
Received 30 November 2001; received in revised form 4 March 2002; accepted 16 April 2002

Abstract
The growth of cracks in equipment that is exposed to repeated thermal down shocks presents a complex problem of
analysis. The transient, highly non-linear nature of the stress proles that are developed during the shock in addition to
localized plasticity and environmental interactions makes dicult any accurate analytical predictions. The use of
current analysis techniques based on linear stress approximations can result in overly conservative results that may lead
to unnecessary and costly component replacements.
This paper outlines results from an experimental investigation into crack growth in notched, at plate specimens
exposed to repeated one-dimensional thermal shocks. Analysis of the results shows that a simple two-stage growth
model may be applicable for describing the crack growth. The model is comprised of a high strain fatigue region where
crack growth is in the plastic range and a region where growth is described by linear elastic fracture mechanics. Allowances for the eects of mean loads and environment on the crack growth are also included in the model. The model
is currently limited to the consideration of carbon steel components, operating at temperatures below the creep range.
2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Thermal shock; Crack growth; High strain fatigue; Linear elastic fracture mechanics; Corrosion assisted fatigue

1. Introduction
The initiation and growth of cracks due to repeated thermal shock (RTS) is caused by the restraint of
thermal expansions and contractions of a material as it is exposed to rapid changes in temperature. This
restraint (either external or internal in nature) results in strains and associated stresses in the material. If the
changes in temperature are severe (especially in the presence of stress concentration factors such as abrupt
changes in geometry), and the resulting strains large enough, local plastic deformation of the component
will occur. Repeated application of this loading leads to rapid crack initiation as per low-cycle mechanical
fatigue. Further application of the loading leads to small crack and then large crack growth. In some cases,
this crack growth can nally lead to component failure.

Corresponding author. Tel.: +61-3-9903-2484; fax: +61-3-9903-2766.

E-mail address: raafat.ibrahim@eng.monash.edu.au (R. Ibrahim).

0013-7944/03/$ - see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 1 3 - 7 9 4 4 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 8 9 - 9

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Crack growth due to RTS is a recognized damage mechanism in fossil fuel power plants where thermal
shocks in boiler equipment are an inevitable side eect of normal and cyclic operation. Examples of thermal
shock cracking include waterside-initiated cracking in carbon steel economiser headers, damage in valves or
spray stations, depressurization vessels and safety valves. The highly non-linear transient stresses characteristic of thermal shock make prediction of crack growth using codes such as the ASME Boiler and
Pressure Vessel Code and BS 7910 extremely dicult.
Unfortunately, thermal shocks in boiler equipment are an inevitable side eect of normal operation,
especially when water is injected or there is sudden depressurization. Start-up and shutdown procedures are
likely to be especially damaging. Cyclic operation of traditionally base-loaded units only increases the
severity of the problem. The boiler tube damage mechanism of waterside-initiated cracking in carbon steel
economiser headers is related to this practice [1]. A typical shutdown due to such a failure can (depending
on the market price of electricity at the time) cost a utility over A$1,000,000 for replacement power. Another cost associated with RTS is the replacement of equipment with cracks. This equipment may be
designated unt for continued operation by tness for service codes such as the British Standard BS 7910
[2] and Section XI of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code [3] and require immediate repair or replacement.
The tness for service codes mentioned above use models based on isothermal fatigue tests and simplied
stress proles. The conservatism of these codes when analyzing RTS cracks is of concern. A particular
reference to the conservatism of the ASME code can be found in work by Czuck et al. [4] where growth at
the tip of a crack exposed to RTS loading was found to be an order of magnitude less than that predicted by
using the code. As mentioned previously, mechanical loading and environmental conditions are very important considerations when analyzing RTS. Existing codes deal with these two issues only in a simplied
manner.
This paper outlines results from an experimental investigation into crack growth in notched, at plate
specimens exposed to repeated one-dimensional thermal shocks. Analysis of the results shows that a twostage growth model may be applicable for describing the crack growth. The model is based on high strain
fatigue (HSF) and linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) considerations. The crack growth occurs rstly
by rapid crack growth acceleration in the plastic zone near the starting notch, followed by a steady deceleration in the surrounding elastic region. Allowances for the eects of mean loads and environment on
the crack growth are included in the model.

2. Experimental procedure
Crack growth results used in this investigation have been obtained using a thermal fatigue test rig,
purpose-built for the investigation of crack growth due to RTS. The test rig consists of a convection
furnace, static loading structure and quenching system. The design allows for the monitored growth of
cracks for a wide variety of component geometries. A thorough analysis of the development of the test rig
and specimen design, including a review of previous trends in the experimental investigations of thermal
shock cracking can be found in [5].
The crack growth data used in this analysis was obtained through the testing of, large-scale at plate
specimens. The notched specimen design is shown in Fig. 1. Note that the inclusion of the attached
masses in the design ensures that one-dimensional cooling occurs when a thermal shock is applied to the
front face. During all tests, the maximum specimen temperature was limited to 370 C to remove any creep
eects. Primary mechanical loads of 90 MPa were applied to half of the specimens, while the remainder had
no mechanical loading. Variation of the dissolved oxygen (DO) level in the cooling water between 8 and 2
ppm in the tests simulated altered environmental conditions. Water was recycled during individual tests and
replaced for each new specimen. In all tests the pH of the water was held steady at around 8.0.

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723

Fig. 1. Specimen design.

Table 1
Results from high temperature tensile tests of AS1548-7-430R carbon steel
Test temperature (C)

Upper yield stress, ry (MPa)

Ultimate tensile stress, ru (MPa)

24
50
100
200

324
295
289
288

456
446
460

The specimen material used for these investigations was boiler grade carbon steel, AS1548-7-430R [6].
Results from elevated temperature tensile tests of the material are summarised below in Table 1. For all
testing, the Youngs Modulus can be satisfactorily estimated at 200 GPa.
To simulate a thermal shock, the specimens were heated to a set temperature in a convection furnace and
then sprayed with room temperature water (25 C) for a period of 7 s. The full cycle time being around 15
min. Thermocouples were used to record the temperature proles of the specimens during testing with
elastic stress proles calculated using the elastic theory [7]. A weight function technique as outlined in
Section XI of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code [3] was then used to calculate the resulting stress
intensity factor proles for cracks in the range 0:05 < a=W < 0:3 (where a is the crack length and W is the
depth of the specimen
65 mm in this case).
Typical temperature proles as recorded by the thermocouples during a thermal shock from 370 C and
the corresponding elastic stress proles are shown in Fig. 2. The corresponding maximum stress intensity
factors as a function of crack length (including notch depth of 3.5 mm) for cracks outside of the inuence of
the notch are given in Fig. 3.
3. Experimental results
Visual inspections of the crack development using a stereo microscope (10100 mag.) were completed
at intervals of 500 cycles. Crack lengths were measured on either side of the specimen, the average of the

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Fig. 2. Temperature and elastic stress proles recorded during a quench lasting 7 s from a set temperature of 370 C.

Fig. 3. Maximum stress intensity factor proles during 7 s shock from 370 C, with and without 90 MPa primary load (note that crack
length a includes the notch depth of 3.5 mm).

two values taken as the through depth. The use of edge values for crack depth was justied through observations of the post fracture surface at the conclusion of testing. It should be noted however that this
method prevented any accurate crack growth rate measurements for crack depths of less than 1 mm (not
including the notch depth) from being obtained.
The crack growth data from the experiments is presented as Fig. 4. The data is presented as recorded
during the testing and has not been adjusted. Crack lengths include the notch depth of 3.5 mm. The general
trend for all data is a period of crack growth acceleration followed by a period of deceleration.
The crack growth data as presented in Fig. 4 is not very useful for developing an inclusive analysis of
crack growth trends during RTS. The large number of variables included in the testing makes it dicult to
complete any useful generalisation. Fortunately, as shown by previous analyses [810], LEFM methods
may be successfully applied to RTS crack growth analysis as long as the plastic zone surrounding the crack
tip is smaller than the LEFM plastic zone allowance. In the case when this plastic zone is too large however,
other methods must be used.
As shown in Fig. 2, thermal shock stresses larger than yield will usually be conned to a region quite
close to the shocked surface. For this reason, crack growth analysis has been divided into two regions. The
rst region is when the crack is small, and the tip is still near the shocked surface where plastic stresses/

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725

Fig. 4. Raw crack length data, T maximum cycle temperature (C), P primary mechanical load (MPa), DO dissolved oxygen
level (ppm).

strains are dominant. The second region is when the crack is longer, the bulk of the material is behaving
elastically and LEFM may be applied.

4. Crack growth analysis

4.1. Short crack growth
Fig. 5 shows the crack growth rate versus crack length results for a number of testing variable combinations. This data clearly shows the general trend of the crack growth as a period of acceleration followed
by a period of deceleration. It is clear however that some cracks accelerate over a greater depth than others
do. This depth of acceleration has a rough correlation with the size of the plastic zone generated during the
thermal shock. The more severe the surface stress during a thermal shock, the greater the depth at which
plastic strains develop and the deeper the region of crack acceleration.
When plastic strains dominate the region surrounding the crack tip, cyclic loading is sometimes referred
to as HSF. As reported by Skelton [11], for small cracks (a=W < 0:1), the crack growth rate in a HSF region
can be linearly related to crack length as shown in Eq. (1):

Fig. 5. Crack growth rate versus crack length (includes notch depth) for a number of cracks grown by RTS. T maximum cycle
temperature (C), P primary mechanical load (MPa), DO dissolved oxygen level (ppm).

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B. Kerezsi et al. / Engineering Fracture Mechanics 70 (2003) 721730

da
Ba
dN

where da=dN is the crack growth per load cycle and B is a constant related to the plastic strain range.
Fitting a linear curve over the region of crack acceleration yields the straight line shown in Fig. 5. As
expected, the linear curve correlates well with the data during the period of crack growth acceleration. This
reinforces the assumption that plastic stresses dominate in this region. Note that when tting Eq. (1) to the
rst region of Fig. 4, an additional constant L has been incorporated. This is because the crack length a
includes the notch depth. The new form of Eq. (1) becomes:
da
Ba
L for a
L=W < 0:1
dN

Substituting the values for B and L obtained from a best-t analysis, the following relationship is obtained
to describe the crack growth in the HSF region of a notched specimen exposed to RTS:
da
4:88  10
4 a
4:05  10
3 m=cycle
dN

for a > 4:05 mm

where a is the crack length in metres. Eq. (3) is represented in Fig. 5 by the full dark line. We can also safely
assume that as long as the crack total crack length a remains less than 6.5 mm, the limit of a=W 0:1 will
not be exceeded and the HSF relation can still be applied. It is worth noting that the development of Eq. (3)
is dominated by the results from the testing conducted at 370 C (where most crack acceleration was
observed). This is due to the lack of reliable measurements for cracks of less than 1 mm.
The number of variable in Eq. (2) can be reduced by setting L to the original notch depth (in this case 3.5
mm). The eect of doing so is to produce a conservative prediction curve for the HSF region as shown by
the broken line in Fig. 5. The appropriate equation for this curve is given below:
da
4:88  10
4 a
3:5  10
3 m=cycle
dN

for a > 3:5 mm

In previous experimental work analysing crack growth in the HSF region, Marsh [12] developed an
empirical relationship that suggested the constant B in Eq. (1) was dependent on the material properties and
the cyclic plastic strain range. The results shown here however suggest that cracks grown in a range of
thermal shock severities (and therefore plastic strain ranges) may be approximated by one curve and hence
a single value of B (4:88  10
4 ).
Particular observations can be made about the eect of DO and primary load on the crack accelerations
observed during the 370 C thermal shocks (corresponding to the worst case in our testing). First of all, the
level of DO in the cooling water seems to have little eect on crack growth rates in the HSF region.
Secondly, while the primary loads do not aect the relation of the growth to Eq. (3), they do extend the
plastic zone, increasing the size of the HSF region and hence the depth to which the cracks accelerate.
4.2. Long crack growth
Once the crack has grown out of the HSF region and growth begins to decelerate, crack length alone is
not sucient as a parameter for describing the growth relationship. Providing the limitations on notch
inuence and plastic zone size are satised, and elastic stresses are dominant, the cyclic change in elastic
stress intensity factor (DK) may become a valid parameter for describing the stress eld at the crack tip. As
the previous work in this area has suggested, the stress intensity factor can be related to crack growth via
Paris law type equations.
For the work reported here, the size of the notch inuence is quite small. As dened
pin experimental
work by Smith and Miller [13], the size of notch inuence may be approximated by 0.13 Dq, where D is the

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727

Fig. 6. Change in stress intensity factor versus crack growth rate for RTS.

notch depth and q is notch radius. Using the values for D and q used in the experimental work, the
maximum notch inuence is around 0.13 mm. This crack length is well below any region in which LEFM
will be applied. Additionally, the plastic zone developed at the tip of a crack during RTS can
p be considered
adequately small (less than 0.5 mm) for application of LEFM if DK is kept below 35 MPa m. This value is
based on the plastic zone size developed at a crack tip during cycling being much smaller than the specimen
thickness and crack length, a general requirement for LEFM validity.
Plotting of the cyclic change in stress intensity factor versus the crack growth rate is shown in Fig. 6.
Data is categorised by both R-ratio (minimum stress intensity factor divided by maximum stress intensity
factor in the loading cycle) and the DO level of the cooling water. Also included on the gure are arrows
that indicate the direction of growth of the cracks, reinforcing the fact that crack deceleration is occurring.
On rst analysis, the data from Fig. 6 seems fairly scattered. However after grouping, several trends can be
observed:
(1) When primary loads are low (R < 0:3), crack growth rate can be roughly related to stress intensity factor by means of a single power law. Changes in the DO level have minimal eect on the overall growth
rate.
(2) When primary loads are high (R > 0:3), crack growth rates are accelerated and cannot be modelled by a
single power law t. An increase in DO results in an increase in crack growth rate. It is assumed that
this accelerated growth is evidence of an environmental interaction.
(3) The increased levels of crack growth observed at high R-ratios and DO levels displays a region where
the crack growth is independent of the applied DK. This suggests an environmental assistance to the
crack growth that may be dominated by a corrosion mechanism. Observations of the crack surface after
the completion of testing conrmed a high level of corrosion to be present in this region [14].
(4) An eventual arrest trend for all cracks seems to be occurring as growth is in a reducing DK eld (as
shown in Fig. 3). The large arrow on the Fig. 6 indicates this trend.
Unlike observations in the HSF region, both primary loads and the DO level in the cooling water seem
to inuence the crack growth rate in the LEFM region. This complicates the matter of predicting crack
growth in this region. Some success has been obtained by using an environmentally assisted crack growth
model developed by Gabetta et al. [15] to describe the growth in this region. This equation, reproduced
below, allows for the environmental assistance by adding a time dependent corrosion term to the wellknown Paris law equation:

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B. Kerezsi et al. / Engineering Fracture Mechanics 70 (2003) 721730

da
da
m
CDK s
dN
dt C

where da=dN total crack growth per load cycle due to fatigue and corrosion, s rise time of loading
cycle (7 s in this work), da=dtC time rate of crack growth due to corrosion processes (found by curve
tting).
The last term of Eq. (5) represents the contribution of corrosion to the crack growth process and is
present only when the stress intensity factor range is above a critical value termed DKc . A formula for
determining DKc is provided in Gabetta et al. [15]:
DKc2

1
aASCR

ry Es

1
R da
1 R dt C

where aASCR is a constant that relates the active surface creation rate (ASCR) to the rate of change of
crack mouth opening distance during a load cycle and ry and E are the material yield and elastic modulus
respectively.
The experimental results produced to date in this work are not sucient to distinguish all of the factors
of Eq. (6), however sucient data has been produced to allow the following interpretation for our conditions:
DKc2 1:45  103

1
R
1R

Curve tting the data for DK < DKc to determine C and m, the following solution for crack growth due to
repeated 7 s long thermal shocks is obtained:
da
5:89
5:28  10
16 DK
dN

for DK < DKc

da
5:89
5:28  10
16 DK 7  10
7
dN

for DK > DKc

8
9

Figs. 7 and 8 show Eqs. (8) and (9) plotted against smoothed test data for cooling water DO of 8 and 2
ppm.
Considering the number of simplications made in this analysis (including the values for da=dtSCF and a),
the Gabetta et al. model provides a fairly good representation of the observed environmental assisted crack

Fig. 7. Smoothed experimental crack growth data plotted against a Gabetta et al. [15] model prediction, allowing for the eects of
environment and primary load. Experimental data for DO 8 ppm plotted.

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729

Fig. 8. Smoothed experimental crack growth data plotted against a Gabetta et al. [15] model prediction, allowing for the eects of
environment and primary load. Experimental data for DO 2 ppm plotted.

growth.
p Note however that the continued validity of the Gabetta et al. model at values of DK above 35
MPa m is yet to be veried.

5. Discussiona simple combined growth model

A combined law for explaining RTS crack growth through both the HSF and LEFM regions can be
proposed from this work. The model is divided into two sections, the rst when crack growth is inside the
plastic zone close to the specimen surface and the second is the elastic region that is encountered at further
depths. For crack growth in the plastic zone, a linear acceleration of crack growth rate with crack depth is
suggested (Eq. (2)). For crack growth outside the plastic zone, the crack growth rate (typically of a decelerating nature) is predicted using a LEFM growth law such as that proposed by Gabetta et al. [15] (i.e.
Eq. (6)).
The results from such a two-stage analysis are summarised in Fig. 9, which shows the crack growth rate
as a function of crack depth for two cases of thermal shock loading. The gure shows a good prediction of
the acceleration and deceleration observed in the specimens both with and without primary loading.

Fig. 9. Crack growth as a function of crack length for two specimens along with crack growth predictions using both HSF and LEFM
methods. T maximum cycle temperature (C), P primary mechanical load (MPa), DO dissolved oxygen level (ppm).

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B. Kerezsi et al. / Engineering Fracture Mechanics 70 (2003) 721730

Fig. 9 also shows that the crack depth at which the crossover between the HSF and LEFM growth laws
occurs is a critical parameter. Because crack growth will accelerate until this depth is reached, a crack of
crossover depth can be assumed to rapidly appear during RTS loading. The smaller this depth is, the less
chance that appreciable crack growth can occur in the ensuing LEFM region. The crossover depth seems to
be related to the plastic stress depth developed by both the thermal shock and steady state primary stresses.
A theoretical proposal for determining this depth is not currently possible. However, a possible suggestion,
based on an approach that has approximately tted our experimental data is given below as Eq. (10):

2
1 Kmax
ac
10
bp
ry
where ac is the crossover depth, Kmax is the maximum stress intensity factor during a cycle, ry is the material
yield stress and b is a constant determined by curve tting (the test data of this work supports a value of
approximately 1.2).

6. Conclusions
In this paper, crack growth in a heated at plate specimen exposed to repeated one-dimensional thermal
shocks (RTS) has been analysed. Experimental results reveal that crack growth occurs in a stage of acceleration followed by a stage of deceleration. The relative magnitude of the stages is dependent on the
presence of primary mechanical loads and the testing environment. A two-stage growth model has been
suggested to represent the observed crack growth based on HSF and LEFM techniques. Allowances for
environmental and primary steady state stress interactions in the LEFM region have been made through an
advanced corrosion fatigue type assessment.

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