Comparison of mode-I crack propagation of tube subjected to internal hydrogen static and detonation loading

Abstract An elaborate numerical model with progressive damage and failure and fluid-structure coupling was developed to study the crack propagations of tubes under hydrogen static and detonation loads. The numerical model was verified with experiment in terms of crack behaviors and fracture patterns. The tube responses, crack propagations, pressure histories, crack lengths and speeds as well as the energy storages were obtained and analyzed in detailed. It was found the static load case has higher stored energy inside the tube, which causes the larger crack length and speed, as well as the severer bending deformation of tube. The forward crack first run faster under detonation load, but it will be caught up by the backward crack in the late period. The crack growths are incremental under both types of loads. However, the crack growth under detonation load has certain regular patterns, where the oscillating crack speed has a dominant frequency that can be calculated by the proposed formula. Moreover, the quantitative relationship between detonation load speed and the incremental crack growth length was revealed, which is fundamentally and practically useful.