Fracture and Fatigue Control in Steel Structures

CONSIDERABLE effort has been devoted to the prevention of
brittle fracture
*
in manufactured structures such as aircraft
and pressure vessels, where large numbers of essentially
identical structures are fabricated under closely controlled
conditions. For example, the emphasis on safety and
reliability of nuclear pressure vessels and the ensuing
extensive research, as well as stringent controls, have led to a
situation where the probability of a brittle fracture in a
nuclear pressure vessel is virtually zero. For other types of
manufactured structures, the causes of field failures usually
can be remedied by changes in design of subsequent units.
In contrast, other types of structures, such as bridges and
buildings, are often individually designed for a specific
function and location. The overall service experience of
steels in these structures has been excellent, so that the
designer in the past has seldom concerned himself with
notch-toughness as a design parameter. However, the trend in
structural design has been such that the following changes
have occurred.
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