Fracture Toughness Testing of an Overmatched Pipe Girth Weld Using Clamped SE(T) Specimens

This work presents an investigation of the ductile tearing properties for a girth weld made of an ASTM A106 Gr C steel using the SMAW welding process with a low hydrogen E7018 electrode thereby resulting in a weld with high strength overmatching with respect to the base material. Testing of the pipe girth welds employed side-grooved, clamped SE(T) specimens with a weld centerline notch to determine the crack growth resistance curves based upon the unloading compliance (UC) method using a single specimen technique. Recently developed compliance functions and η-factors applicable to weld centerline notched SE(T) specimens are introduced to determine crack growth resistance data from laboratory measurements of load-displacement records. While the UC procedure resulted in measured crack extensions for the tested specimens with weld centerline notch that underestimated the 9-point average crack extension, our preliminary results demonstrate the capability of the methodology in describing crack growth resistance behavior which serves as a basis for ductile tearing assessments in ECA procedures applicable to overmatched girth welds and similar structural components.