Numerical Modeling of a 3D elliptical crack in gas metallic pipeline by coupling X-FEM and Volumetric approach

Pressure equipment containing a surface defect requires an important evaluation to ensure the safety of these systems. The aim of this study is to analyse an external semi-elliptical crack in a thin wall cylinder. Due to the introduction of the Extended Finite Element Method (X-FEM) as an alternative to the conventional Finite Element Method (CFEM), in this paper we used X-FEM implemented in ABAQUS to compute the elastoplastic circumferential stress, it shows an accuracy result compared with the CFEM and CASTEM FE results. Based on these results we presented a new technique by coupling X-FEM and Volumetric Approach to evaluate the cracking stress in order to calculate the Stress Intensity Factors in the elastoplastic field.