ENERGY BALANCE ANALYSIS FOR DYNAMIC CRACK PROPAGATION IN GAS PIPELINES USING THE FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

Energy balance analysis for dynamic crack propagation in gas pipelines using finite element method has been developed in this paper. Energy variations are calculated by PFRAC program, which can be used to simulate crack propagation in the pipe. By calculating the variations of the external work and the internal energy for the uncracked pipe and the cracked pipe, the energy balance method can be used to evaluate the driving force G during the crack propagation in the pipe. The comparison of the crack driving forces calculated by nodal force release method and energy balance method are also exhibited in this paper.