Definition of Fatigue Crack Growth Thresholds for Ferritic Steels in Fitness-for-Service Codes

Fatigue crack growth rates are expressed as a function of the stress intensity factor ranges. The fatigue crack growth thresholds are important characteristics of fatigue crack growth assessment for the integrity of structural components. Almost all materials used in these fatigue tests are ferritic steels. As a result, the reference fatigue crack growth rates and the fatigue crack growth thresholds for ferritic steels were established as rules and they were provided by many fitness-for-service (FFS) codes. However, the thresholds are not well defined in the range of negative stress ratio. There are two types of thresholds under the negative stress ratio. That is, constant thresholds and increment of thresholds with decreasing stress ratios. The objective of this paper is to introduce the thresholds provided by FFS codes and to analyze the thresholds using crack closure. In addition, based on the experimental data, definition of the threshold is discussed to apply to FFS codes. Finally, threshold for ferritic steels under the entirely condition of stress ratio is proposed to the ASME Code Section XI.