Fracture assessments of clad pipe girth welds incorporating improved crack driving force solutions

•Large set of J-solution for pipes and cylinders with mismatched girth welds.•Large set of h1-factors for girth welds with weld centerline surface cracks.•Improved reference stress methodology for cylinders with mismatched girth welds.•Introduction of an advanced FAD procedure based on fully-plastic solutions for the J-integral.•Use of more accurate FAD procedures yield much larger tolerable crack size estimates.

This work addresses an evaluation procedure for the J-integral in pipeline girth welds with circumferential surface cracks subjected to bending load for a wide range of crack geometries and weld mismatch levels based on the GE-EPRI and the reference stress framework. The study also addresses evaluation of critical flaw sizes for a subsea flowline clad pipe having an undermatched girth weld made of UNS N06625 Alloy 625. The 3-D numerical analyses provide a large set of J-solutions in cracked pipes with mismatched girth welds with implications of the potential applicability of ECA procedures in welded cracked structural components.