A Numerical Study of the Damage Mechanisms for CT Tensile Specimens of P265GH Steel Material

The aim of this paper is to determine the damage mechanisms of P265GH steel, commonly used for pressure equipment. First, an experimental study using tensile and Charpy tests allowed us to determine the mechanical properties (Young modulus E = 200 GPa, elongation ε = 35%, yield se = 320 MPa, ultimate stress su = 470 MPa, and KIC = 96 MP√m). Then, numerical finite element modeling on a CT specimen using the CASTEM calculation code allowed us to determine the damage of the material when the notch depth varies. The analysis of the results shows that the numerical values of the stress concentration coefficient Kt and the stress intensity factor KI are comparable with the analytically calculated values, thus validating our numerical study. The numerical results obtained revealed that the maximum stress σmax is located in the vicinity of the notch bottom and the high probability density corresponds to a high loading level.