For a long time, cracked structures have triggered various researchers to develop a structural integrity approach and design models to address the fracture problems. In the present study, a pipeline with an axial semi-elliptical surface defect was examined in detail. Recent works have highlighted the use of the classical finite element method (CFEM) as numerical tools to solve the fracture mechanics; however, this approach comes with a few difficulties in the modelling aspects. To overcome this issue, we proposed the use of the extended finite element method (XFEM), which was implemented in the commercial version of Abaqus software. Moreover, we have used the results based on this technique in the volumetric method to estimate the stress intensity factors (SIFs). Then, this parameter was employed to build the failure assessment diagram (FAD). The FAD curve was used in the current investigation because it is one of the conventional methods for the evaluation of flaws in steel pipes. The XFEM simulations enable us to draw an FAD curve that can be used as a practical reference for defect evaluation in pipeline systems in the industrial world.

The work investigates the importance of the K-T approach in the modelling of pressure cracked structures. T-stress is the constant in the second term of the Williams expression; it is often negligible, but recent literature has shown that there are cases where T-stress plays the role of opening the crack, also T-stress improves elastic modeling at the point of crack. In this research study, the most important effects of the T-stress are collected and analyzed. A numerical analysis was carried out by the extended finite element method (X-FEM) to analyze T-stress in an arc with external notch under internal pressure. The different stress method (SDM) is employed to calculate T-stress. Moreover, the influence of the geometry of the notch on the biaxiality is also examined. The biaxiality gave us a view on the initiation of the crack. The results are extended with a comparison to previous literature to validate the promising investigations.

In this study, a NURBS basis function-based extended iso-geometric analysis (X-IGA) has been implemented to simulate a two-dimensional crack in a pipe under uniform pressure using MATLAB code. Heaviside jump and asymptotic crack-tip enrichment functions are used to model the crack’s behaviour. The accuracy of this investigation was ensured with the stress intensity factors (SIFs) and the J-integral. The X-IGA—based SIFs of a 2-D pipe are compared using MATLAB code with the conventional finite element method available in ABAQUS FEA, and the extended finite element method is compared with a user-defined element. Therefore, the results demonstrate the possibility of using this technique as an alternative to other existing approaches to modeling cracked pipelines.

The aim of this study is to investigate the problem of pipe cracking based on T-stress analysis and the influence of other parameters, using a numerical computation performed by extended isogeometric analysis (X-IGA). This article examines the T-stress, which defines the second term of the Williams’ series expansion. T-stress provides effective elastic modeling at the crack tip. Using the extended iso-geometric analysis (X-IGA), we determined the distribution of T-stress at the crack tip in a pipe under internal pressure as a function of internal pressure, crack size, and Poisson’s ratio. To validate the promising findings, the results are expanded with a comparison to the extended finite element (X-FEM) method and existing research in this field, and we obtained an error between 0.2% and 4.6%. This work demonstrated the significance of T-stress in fracture description, the effect of Poisson’s ratio and size on T-stress, and that X-IGA provided accurate numerical results by precisely describing the geometry of the crack and enriching it.

In this investigation, we successfully employed the Non-Uniform Rational B-spline (NURBS) to study the fracture mechanics. the NURBS functions are very popular in the design field (CAD model) and it is used as an alternative to Lagrange interpolation polynomials. The extended isogeometric analysis based on this basis function is used to evaluate the stress intensity factors (SIFs) in order to control the crack propagation. For various crack lengths, SIFs were calculated to validate the accuracy of this technique. The results obtained are in good agreement with the available techniques as CFEM, X-FEM.

Finite element analysis has become an essential tool for simulating and understanding crack growth. This technique holds significant importance in the field of mechanical engineering, where it finds wide application in the design and optimization of structural components and material properties. This work began with the identification of critical zones and estimated the number of load life repeats through fatigue analysis, specifically applied to automotive rims utilizing innovative finite element methods. To investigate crack behavior, we are used the Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM) with the volumetric approach to compute the Stress Intensity Factor (SIF). The results obtained by our study align closely with experimental tests in terms of detecting the critical zone where a crack can appear. Our findings contribute to the understanding of fatigue behavior in automotive rims, offering new insights into their structural integrity and performance under various load conditions.