Geometric and material property dependencies of the plastic rotation factor in the drop-weight-tear test

•Statistical significance testing on experimental and computational data sets.•Geometric and material parameter dependencies on plastic rotation factor identified.•Empirical fit for plastic rotation factor proposed.

We carry out significance testing on experimental and computational data sets to determine which material and geometric parameters affect the plastic rotation factor (which is used to estimate the crack-tip-opening angle based on the plastic hinge model) for pipeline steels. It is shown, using the Xue-Wierzbicki damage mechanics model and a statistical analysis, that the rotation factor mainly depends on the Charpy V-notch energy, and empirical fits for the rotation factor are proposed.