Unified Correlation of Wide Range of In-Plane and Out-of-Plane Constraints with Cleavage Fracture Toughness

There generally exists a compound change of both in-plane and out-of-plane constraint in structures, and a unified constraint parameter Ap for charactering both constraints has been proposed by authors. However, it has not been investigated whether or not the Ap is suitable to be as a unified constraint parameter for wide range of in-plane and out-of-plane constraints. In this work, extensive three-dimensional finite element analyses have been conducted for a large amount of experimental specimens with wide range of in-plane and out-of-plane constraints. The ability of unified constraint parameter Ap in charactering the in-plane and out-of-plane constraints have been evaluated.