Evaluación de la integridad estructural de componentes sometidos a condiciones de bajo confinamiento

Résumé

This Doctorate Thesis analyses the phenomenon of the loss of constraint on the load application plane on industrial components and structures. The ordinary assessments proposed by the Fracture Mechanics Theory do not take into account this phenomenon, giving many times overconservative results. Two clearly distinct sources of low constraint are distinguished: that caused by the predominance of tensile loads and shallow defects and that produced by the notch effect. Both types of loss of constraint have been analysed by several authors, but in a rather disjointed way and without a global focus that might allow cases in which both situations arise simultaneously to be analysed. This work proposes an overall constraint procedure, theoretically justified, that allows analysing situations where the different sources of constraint coexist. Also, the results of the validation experimental programme are presented and compared to the predictions of the model.