Tensile yield load solutions for centre cracked bilayer (clad) plates with and without repair welds

Abstract Bilayer metallic structural components in the form of clad plates are often used owing to their superior environmental and mechanical properties. During the service life of these components, cracks or cracklike defects may be developed in the clad layer and may grow into the substrate. To repair the damaged regions, local repair welding techniques are often used. The presence of this repair welded part may affect the deformation behaviour, and hence yield load level, of the structure. Therefore, in the present paper, new analytical tensile yield load solutions for centre cracked clad steel plates (austenitic cladding on a ferritic substrate) with a repair weld have been developed and these provide good agreement with experimental results. Additionally, a previously reported tensile yield load expression for a centre cracked clad plate (without a repair weld) has also been verified using the experimental results.