Nordic numerical round robin for a side-grooved CT-specimen

Abstract The reliability of fracture mechanics assessments based on finite element method calculations has to be confirmed before making safety assessments for critical components like nuclear pressure vessels. Calculations for simulation of fracture mechanics tests and numerical round robin programmes are useful methods in such verification. In this paper the results of Nordic finite element round robin calculations for a side-grooved CT-specimen are presented and compared with experimental results. The round robin consisted of two parts. In the first part, two-dimensional calculations assuming plane strain and plane stress behaviour were made. In the second part, three-dimensional calculations were performed for best-estimate analysis of the specimen behaviour. The differences between the solutions were comparatively small. Only one two-dimensional solution, where lower order finite elements were used, deviated clearly from the other ones. A good agreement was seen between two-dimensional plane strain results and experimental results. Three-dimensional calculations correspond very accurately with each other and with the experiment.