Copyright 2012 by ASME 1

CVN AND DWTT ENERGY METHODS FOR DETERMINING

FRACTURE ARREST TOUGHNESS OF HIGH STRENGTH PIPELINE STEELS

Xian-Kui Zhu, Brian N. Leis
Battelle Memorial Institute
505 King Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43201, USA



ABSTRACT
Battelle two curve model (BTCM) was developed in the
1970s and successfully used for determining arrest toughness
for ductile gas transmission pipelines in terms of Charpy vee-
notched (CVN) impact energy. Practice has shown that the
BTCM is accurate only for pipeline grades up to X65, but not
for high strength pipeline grades X70 and above. Different
methods to improve the BTCM were proposed over the years.
This paper reviews the BTCM and its modified methods in
terms of CVN energy or drop weight tear test (DWTT) energy
for determining arrest toughness of ductile gas pipeline steels,
particularly for high strength pipeline steels X80 and beyond.
This includes the often-used Leis correction method, the CSM
factor method, Wilkowski DWTT method and others. The
CVN and DWTT energy-based methods are evaluated and
discussed through the critical analysis and comparison with
full-scale experimental data. The objective is to identify
reasonable methods to be used for determining the minimum
fracture toughness required to arrest a ductile running crack in a
modern high strength, high pressure gas pipeline. The results
show that available nonlinear models to correlate the standard
DWTT and CVN energies are questionable, and the Leis
correction method is a viable approach for determining arrest
toughness for high strength pipeline steels, but further study is
needed for ultra-high pipeline grades. Suggestions for further
improving the BTCM are discussed.

KEYWORDS: running fracture, CVN energy, DWTT energy,
BTCM, arrest toughness, gas pipeline, high strength steels.

INTRODUCTION
For a modern gas transmission pipeline, ductile fracture
propagation is a major concern in its safe design and operation
at high internal pressure. Development of the ductile fracture
propagation control technology is critical to ensure structural
integrity and safety of gas pipelines and to prevent potential
running fracture that may cause a catastrophic failure of gas
pipelines or a disaster to environment and people. Fracture
resistance against crack propagation is an important material
property. Arrest toughness is referred as to the minimum
fracture resistance required to arrest a running crack in gas
pipelines. The absorbed energy obtained in a Charpy Vee-
Notched (CVN) impact test or a Drop Weight Tear Test
(DWTT) has been used to characterize the ductile fracture
resistance of steels for many years in pipeline industry.
In the 1970s, Battelle successfully developed a two-curve
model that is commonly known as BTCM for predicting arrest
toughness for ductile pipeline steels. Maxey [1] detailed the
technology of the BTCM and its applications. In the BTCM,
the fracture behavior and the gas decompression behavior in a
gas pipeline were uncoupled and described by two independent
curves. The gas curve was described by the code GASDECOM
developed at Battelle that is valid for both lean and rich gases.
The fracture curve was described by a semi-empirical fracture
mechanics model in terms of CVN energy - apparent fracture
toughness. It has been found that the CVN energy-based
BTCM is accurate only for pipeline grades up to X65 with low
to intermediate fracture toughness, but it fails for high strength,
high toughness pipeline steels with grade X70 and above. In
Proceedings of the 2012 9th International Pipeline Conference
IPC2012
September 24-28, 2012, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
IPC2012-90624
Copyright 2012 by ASME 2
order to improve the BTCM for high strength steels, extensive
efforts have been made and different modified methods were
proposed, including Leis factor [2], CSM factor [3] and
Wilkowski DWTT method [4]. Recently, Leis and Eiber [5]
elaborated the history, technology and progress of ductile
fracture propagation control for gas transmission pipelines.
In this work, the CVN energy-based BTCM and its
modified methods as well as the DWTT energy-based methods
for determining arrest toughness of ductile gas pipeline steels
are reviewed and discussed. The attention is paid to ductile
fracture propagation control technology using CVN or DWTT
energy methods to determine the minimum fracture toughness
required to arrest a ductile running crack in modern gas
transmission pipelines under high internal pressure. In
particular, the available CVN and DWTT energy methods are
evaluated through critical analysis and comparison with test
data in order to determine arrest toughness for high strength
pipelines. On this basis, the viable methods for determining
arrest toughness are identified, and further needs to improve the
BTCM are suggested for high strength pipeline steels.

CVN ENERGY METHODS FOR ARREST TOUGHNESS
DETERMINATION
High internal pressure can cause a longitudinally oriented
crack to propagate rapidly along a gas transmission pipeline in
a ductile mode at the operating temperature above the ductile-
to-brittle transition temperature of the pipeline steel. In order to
prevent the running fracture occurring in the gas pipeline,
different ductile fracture propagation control technologies have
been developed empirically or semi-empirically over the years
so that the arrest toughness can be predicted for the pipeline
steel in consideration. The often-used methods in determination
of arrest toughness are reviewed next.

BTCM
Battelle two curve model [BTCM] was proposed and
published by Maxey [1] in 1974. This model considers the gas
decompression (crack driving curve) and the dynamic crack
propagation resistance (crack resistance curve) as uncoupled
processes, but both are related to decompressed pressure ahead
of the crack tip. The gas decompression curve is determined by
the code GASDECOM developed at Battelle that is valid for
lean gases and rich gases [5]. The crack propagation curve is
determined by the following semi-empirical equation:

6 / 1
1
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
a
f
f
P
P
R
C V
o
(1)

where V
f
is the crack propagation velocity in m/s (or ft/s), C is
a backfill parameter with a constant value of 2.75 (or 0.648)
and 2.34 (or 0.47), respectively for no backfill in air conditions
and soil backfill. o
f
=o
y
+69 MPa (or 10 ksi) is a flow stress in
MPa (ksi), R=C
V
/Ac is fracture resistance with C
V
the full-size
Charpy vee-notched (CVN) impact energy at the upper shelf in
Joule (or ft-lb) and A
c
being the ligament cross-section area of
Charpy specimen with a value of 80 mm
2
(or 0.124 inch
2
), P is
the instant decompressed pressure near the crack tip in MPa (or
psi), and P
a
=2to
a
/D is the arrest pressure at the crack tip in
MPa (or psi). The arrest hoop stress is determined by:

(
(

= ]
2 / 24
exp[ arccos
33 . 3
2
2
Dt
RE
f
f
a
o
t
t
o
o
(2)

where E is the elastic modulus in GPa (or ksi), D is the pipe
diameter in mm (or inches), and t is the pipe wall thickness in
mm (or inches). Equation (2) was originally developed by
Kiefner et al. [6] for fracture initiation control for pipelines in
reference to the rudimentary fracture mechanics methods. In
this equation, a linear relationship between the CVN energy
and the fracture toughness G
C
was used.
When the fracture curve determined by Eq. (2) and the gas
decompression curve determined by GASDECOM are tangent,
as shown in Fig. 1, the minimum fracture arrest toughness in
terms of CVN energy is determined for the pipeline steel in
consideration. If the CVN toughness increases, the fracture
curve moves up to be above the gas curve and a running crack
will arrest because the fracture velocity is slower than the gas
decompression velocity at all pressure levels. If the CVN
toughness decreases, the fracture curve moves down and the
running crack will continue to propagate because the fracture
velocity is faster than the gas velocity. The gas decompression
code GASDECOM is unique because it embedded the BWRS
equations of state and accounted for both single-phase and two-
phase decompression behaviors of gases. In contrast, Equations
(1) and (2) for determining the fracture curve were calibrated
with experimental data available in the late 1960s to the early
1970s, and so X52 to X65 pipeline steels were involved. As
such, the BTCM may not be accurate for grades above X65.



















Figure 1

Fracture and gas decompression velocity curves

Copyright 2012 by ASME 3
Simplified BTCM
Maxey et al. [7] developed a simplified formula to allow
direct estimate of arrest toughness for normal pipeline design
pressures to control ductile fracture propagation for lean gases
in the all-gas phase. Based on the results obtained from the
BTCM and using the curve-fitting process, arrest fracture
toughness in terms of Charpy energy for the 2/3-size specimen
was obtained as:
( )
3 / 1 2 3
) 3 / 2 (
10 2 . 7 Rt C
h V
o =

(US Units) (3)
where CVN energy is in ft-lb, the hoop stress is in ksi, and the
pipe radius and wall thickness are in inches. Due to its
simplicity, the simplified BTCM model has been adopted in a
variety of codes and standards for gas transmission pipeline
design. At the same time, different simplified equations similar
to Eq. (3) were developed by other companies or organizations
for determining the arrest toughness of gas pipelines. Other
simplified equations can be found in Reference [5].
Since the mid-1970s, fracture toughness of pipeline steels
has been increased significantly. It was found that the BTCM
and all simplified models predicted non-conservative arrest
roughness in comparison to the measured Charpy energy for
the high-strength pipeline steels with CVN energy larger than
70 ft-lb (or 95 Joule). Therefore, different modified methods
were proposed in order to improve the BTCM. The following
sections overview these modified methods.

Leis Correction Method
It has been found the changes of fracture energy in the
CVN specimen with increasing toughness. Experimental data
showed that the ratios of the initiation energy to propagation
energy for high toughness steels were inherently different from
those for low toughness steels in reference to CVN energy.
From these observations and based on the energy dissipation
principle, Leis [2] developed a correction to the BTCM in a
project for the Alliance Pipeline. This correction was referred
to as the Leis correction method or Leis factor method that
assumes that the arrest toughness in terms of CVN energy is
the same as that determined by the BTCM if the measured
CVN energy is less than 95 Joule (or 70 ft-lb), otherwise a
correction is needed. This can be expressed as:
( ) ( )
BTCM V arrest V
C C =
, for C
V
< 95 J (4a)
( ) ( ) ( ) 18 . 21 002 . 0
04 . 2
+ =
BTCM V BTCM V arrest V
C C C
, for C
V
> 95 J (4b)
where (C
V
)
arrest
is the CVN full-size equivalent energy required
for crack arrest in Joule, and (C
V
)
BTCM
is the CVN full-size
equivalent arrest energy calculated with the BTCM or the
simplified BTCM equation (3) in Joule. Because the
characteristics of the flow and fracture responses of the steels
involved in developing equation (4) had been limited to grades
X70 and less, and thus this modified equation was limited in its
utility to X70 and below [5]. Care must be taken if this
correction method is used for grades X80 and above.
Recently based on experimental burst data for X70 and
X80 high strength pipeline steels, Eiber [8-9] showed that the
Leis factor method is accurate for X70 steels, but not for X80
steels. When the coefficient of 0.002 in Eq. (4b) was replaced
by 0.003, Eiber found that the modified equation (5) can
predict results of arrest toughness in good agreement with the
experimental data for X80 steels:
( ) ( ) ( ) 18 . 21 003 . 0
04 . 2
+ =
BTCM V BTCM V arrest V
C C C
, for C
V
> 95 J (5)

CSM Factor Method
CSM [10] proposed a simple factor method to modify the
BTCM prediction of the minimum CVN energy (C
V
)
BTCM
in
determination of the required arrest toughness for high strength
pipeline steels, such as X80 and X100. The simple CSM factor
equation is expressed as a linear relationship between the arrest
toughness and the BTCM predicted toughness:

(C
V
)
arrest
=k (C
V
)
BTCM
(6)

The constant factor k is 1.43 for X80 and 1.7 or higher for
X100 as given by Demofonti [10] at CSM. In contrast to the
Leis factor method that considers the nonlinear relationship
between the required arrest toughness and the BTCM predicted
toughness for steels with CVN energy larger than 95 Joules, the
CSM factor method cannot consider the nonlinear behavior and
is valid only for an individual grade in consideration.

Statistical Factor Method
Since the CSM factor method depends on pipeline grade, a
more general factor method was sought in a statistical analysis.
Wolodko and Stephens [11] at C-FER obtained a statistical
correction to the BTCM for pipeline grades from X70 to X100
in the following equation:
( ) ( )( )
BTCM V sd arrest V
C n C 29 . 0 5 . 1 + =
(7)
where n
sd
is the multiplier on the standard deviation of the
model error that can be selected to achieve the desired
probability of non-arrest of running cracks. For example, when
n
sd
=1.0, 1.5, and 2.0, corresponding to the probability of non-
arrest of 16%, 6.7% and 2.3 %, the factor between the required
arrest toughness and BTCM prediction used in Eq. (7) will be
1.79, 1.935, and 2.08, respectively.
Figure 2 compares the arrest toughness predictions by the
four improved methods, i.e., the Leis factor method in Eq. (4)
and Eq. (5), the CSM factor method in Eq. (6), and the
statistical factor method in Eq. (7). It is assumed that an X80
pipeline steel is considered in this figure, and so the factor
k=1.43 in Eq. (6) and the factor in Eq. (7) is taken as 1.935. For
X80, the arrest toughness ranges from 130 to 270 Joules
generally and the CSM method gives a reasonable prediction,
as shown in Reference [10]. Therefore, Figure 2 shows that the
Leis factor equation (5) predicts a good result of arrest
toughness that close to the CSM factor equation (6), the Leis
factor equation (4) underestimates slightly the arrest toughness,
Copyright 2012 by ASME 4
and the statistical factor equation (7) overestimates the arrest
toughness for X80 gas pipeline steels.

0
100
200
300
400
500
0 50 100 150 200 250
(
C
v
)
a
r
r
e
s
t
,

J
o
u
l
e
(CV)BTCM, Joule
Equation (4)
Equation (5)
Equation (6)
Equation (7)

Figure 2. Comparison of arrest Cv toughness predictions
by four improved methods

Backfill Correction Method
In equation (1) of the BTCM, effect of backfill on the
propagating fracture velocity is lumped into one empirically
based backfill coefficient, which does not distinguish
different soil types or strengths, in addition to a constant
power-law exponent of 1/6. Rudland and Wilkowski [12, 19]
conducted a series of burst tests for gas pipelines in conditions
of different backfill depths and different soil types. Based on
their test data, the fracture curve equation (1) was modified as:
6 / 1
1
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
a
f
f
P
P
R K
C V
o
(8)
where K = 0.275H
actual
/ H
nominal
+ 0.725, H
actual
is the actual
backfill depth used in a burst test of gas pipes, and H
nominal
=30
inches that was used in the early gas burst tests for calibrating
the backfill coefficient C. Note that the burst tests in calibration
of Eq. (8) were conducted only for CVN<100 Joules.

Speed-Dependent Toughness Method
In the original BTCM, the fracture toughness CVN was
assumed as a constant material resistance. Since experiments
showed that fracture toughness or resistance is dependent on
the crack speed, Duan and Zhou [13-14] at TransCanada
modified the fracture resistance as a speed-dependent value:
a
f
V R R

=
0
(9)
where
a
ref ref
V R R =
0
, R
ref
is a reference fracture resistance at the
reference speed V
ref
, and o is a fracture speed dependent index.
Figure 3 show the effect of speed dependent fracture toughness
on crack speed curves for an X80 pipeline steel, where o=0
represents the case of constant fracture toughness as used in the
BTCM. When o=0.2, the predictions are in good agreement
with full-scale burst tests of X80 pipes.


Figure 3. Effect of speed dependent fracture toughness on
crack speed curves (It was taken from [13])


DWTT ENERGY METHODS OF ARREST TOUGHNESS
DETERMINATION
Early DWTT Methods
Historically, a drop weight tear test (DWTT) specimen was
developed at Battelle as the first alternative candidate to
replace the Charpy impact specimen for accurately identifying
the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature and for measuring
ductile fracture propagation resistance at the upper shelf for
tougher pipeline steels. It has been thought that a larger DWTT
specimen with the full-size thickness of pipes is superior to the
smaller CVN specimen in quantifying fracture resistance for
ductile pipeline steels with high toughness and large plastic
deformation, particularly for modern high strength pipeline
steels. Different correlation between DWTT and CVN energies
were developed, as described next.
DWTT Method at Battelle. For traditional pipeline steels,
Wilkowski et al [15-16] at Battelle in late 1970s developed a
linear correlation between the standard pressed notch DWTT
energy density and the CVN energy density in the form of:
300 3 + |
.
|

\
|
= |
.
|

\
|
CVN DWTT
A
E
A
E
(ft-lb/in
2
) (10)
where E is the total fracture energy in ft-lb, A is fracture area of
the specimen ligament in in
2
, and E/A denotes the energy
density (or the energy per unit area) in ft-lb/in
2
. Note that there
is a useful conversion of 1 ft-lb/in
2
= 0.0021 J/mm
2
. When the
minimum CVN energy for a crack arrest is determined using
the BTCM, the minimum DWTT energy for the crack arrest
can be determined from Eq. (10). Figure 3 shows the linear
relationship between the CVN and DWTT energy densities
from Eq. (10) for vintage pipeline steels up to X65.
Copyright 2012 by ASME 5

Figure 3. Correlation between Charpy and DWTT specific
energies (E/A) (It was taken from [15], 1ft-lb/in
2
=0.0021J/mm
2
)

DWTT Method at British Gas. Fearnehough et al. [17] at
British Gas was one of the early investigators who developed
test methods and showed that the propagation energy in higher
toughness pipeline steels was not linearly related to the Charpy
energy. In their tests, a series of DWTT specimens were pre-
cracked to different crack lengths from short to deep under
quasi-static loading, and then impacted under drop weight
dynamic loading. This test was called an interrupted DWTT
specimen test. The impact energy was determined for each
interrupted DWTT specimen with a different crack length, and
compared with the Charpy energy for the same steel. Figure 3
shows the variation of DWTT energy density (E/A) with
Charpy energy density (E/A) obtained by Fearnehough et al.
[17]. This figure indicates that for the lower toughness steels
the linear relationship between the DWTT and Charpy energies
exist (the data in groups A and B), but for the higher toughness
steels with CVN energy of 70 Joules or more the DWTT
energy is no longer linear with the Charpy energy instead of a
nonlinear relation (the data in group C).
Leis [18] discussed the linear correlation between DWTT
and CVN energies in Eq. (10) for pipeline grades up to X70,
and found that most burst test data for X70 Alliance pipeline
steel did not follow the linear trend, but behaved in a nonlinear
relation similar to that in Fig 4. This raised the questions about
generality of the linear correlation. For modern high toughness
pipeline steels with CVN energy larger than about 100 Joules,
experiments showed that the relation between DWTT and CVN
energies deviates from the linearity. Recently, Wilkowski et al.
[4] showed that the pipeline grade has significant effect on their
correlation. The slope of the linear function continues to
decreases from 2.94 for X60 to 1.91 for X100. Therefore, a
general correlation between CVN and DWTT is nonlinear for
high toughness pipeline steels.


Figure 4. Variation of DWTT (E/A) and Charpy (E/A) by
Fearnehough [17]


Figure 5. Variation of brittle-notch and pressed-notch DWTT
energies for pipeline grades up to X70 (it was taken from [20])

Brittle-notch DWTT Specimens. In the 1970s, investigators
believed that the nonlinear relationship might be caused by the
large initiation energy obtained by the standard pressed-notch
DWTT specimens for tougher steels. And thus, Battelle
modified the notch of standard DWTT specimen in an attempt
to reduce the initiation energy from the total DWTT energy so
that the propagation energy is dominated. Thus, a brittle-notch
DWTT specimen was introduced. Figure 5 shows experimental
results obtained by Wilkowski et al. [15, 20] in 1977 using the
brittle-notch DWTT specimens for pipeline grades up to X70.
Based on these test data, Wilkowski et al proposed a curve-
fitted nonlinear function between the brittle-notch (BN) and
pressed-notch (PN) DWTT energy densities:
Copyright 2012 by ASME 6
1500 175
385 . 0
|
.
|

\
|
= |
.
|

\
|
DWTT PN DWTT BN
A
E
A
E
(11)
where the energy density and the constant are in ft-lb/in
2
.
An alternative to the brittle-notch DWTT specimen was a
static-precracked DWTT specimen that was first developed at
Battelle. These DWTT specimens have crack-like notches. It
has been shown that the static-precracked DWTT specimen
gives the results similar to the brittle-notch DWTT results [4].

Wilkowski DWTT Methods
In order to reflect the nonlinear relationship between the
DWTT and CVN energies, Wilkowski et al. [4] proposed two
new nonlinear correlations. They assumed that the standard
pressed-notch DWTT specimen used for fitting equation (10)
and the brittle-notch DWTT specimen were equivalent because
both specimens have less initiation energy in the total absorbed
energy. In this case, they replaced the pressed-notch DWTT
energy in Eq. (10) with the brittle-notch DWTT energy in Eq.
(11) and obtained the following so-called Wilkowski 1977
prediction of CVN energy from the standard DWTT tests:
0 . 600
3
175
385 . 0
) 1977 (

|
.
|

\
|
= |
.
|

\
|
DWTT W CVN
A
E
A
E
(12)
where the specific energy and the constant are in ft-lb/in
2
,
(E/A)
DWTT
is the total pressed-notch DWTT energy density, and
(E/A)
CVN(W 1977)
is the total CVN energy density.
When compared with the full-scale burst test results for
pipeline steels of X52, X60, X65 and X70, Wilkowski et al.
[21] in 2000 found that the prediction from Eq. (12) resulted in
an overestimation of arrest DWTT energy in comparison to the
full-scale DWTT data. A statistical factor of the overestimation
was determined as 1.291. Combining this correction factor
with Eq. (12) gives the Wilkowski 2000 prediction of the CVN
energy from the standard DWTT tests:
0 . 600 3 . 1
3
175
385 . 0
) 2000 (

|
.
|

\
|
= |
.
|

\
|
DWTT W CVN
A
E
A
E
(13)
This equation as well as Eq. (12) can be used to predict the
required arrest DWTT energy when the minimum CVN energy
is obtained by the BTCM. However, from Eqs (12) and (13),
Wilkowski et al. [4] also obtained the arrest CVN energy by
use of the BTCM predicted CVN toughness. It is unclear how
they obtained such predictions because the corrections only
relate the CVN energy to the DWTT energy, but not to the
BTCM predicted CVN values.

Kawaguchi DWTT Method
For X80 pipeline steels, Kawaguchi et al. [22] improved
the Wilkowski DWTT equations that are valid only up to X70.
They found that Eq. (11) did not match their test data for X80,
and proposed the following relationship to correlate the static-
precracked (SPC) DWTT and the pressed-notch DWTT energy
densities:
9563 . 0
9431 . 0
DWTT PN DWTT SPC
A
E
A
E

|
.
|

\
|
= |
.
|

\
|
(ft-lb/in
2
) (14)
Following the Wilkowskis assumption and ideas to generate
the nonlinear correlation in Eq. (12), Kawaguchi from Eqs (10)
and (14) obtained the following correlation between the Charpy
and DWTT energy densities for X80 steels:
100 3144 . 0
9563 . 0

|
.
|

\
|
= |
.
|

\
|
DWTT CVN
A
E
A
E
(ft-lb/in
2
) (15)
Note that both equations (14) and (15) are nearly linear because
the exponent approaches to 1.
Figure 6 compares the four correlations between DWTT
and Charpy energy densities determined by the Battelle linear
correlation in Eq. (10), Wilkowski 1977 correlation in Eq. (12),
Wilkowski 2000 correlation in Eq. (13) and Kawaguchi
correlation in Eq. (15). It is seen from this figure that Eqs (12)
and (13) have a nonlinear relation between the DWTT and
CVN energy densities that are different from the experimental
trend observed in Fig. 4. Equation (15) is nearly linear with
another slope. This raises the questions about these three
correlations proposed by Wilkowski [19] and Kawaguchi [22].
Further discussions will be given later.

0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
D
W
T
T

E
/
A

(
f
t
-
l
b
/
i
n
2
)
Charpy E/A (ft-lb/in
2
)
Battelle linear correlation
Wilkowski 1977 correlation
Wilkowski 2000 correlation
Kawaguchi correlation

Figure 6. Comparison of three correlations between DWTT
and Charpy specific energies

Wilkowski CVN Correction Method
In the open literature, there is a so-called Wilkowski CVN
correction equation. Motivated by the Leis correction equation
(4b), Papka et al. [23] at ExxonMobil in 2003 proposed an
alternative correction by use of the experimental data and the
DWTT correlation obtained by Wilkowski et al. [15]. From
Eqs (10) and (12) with an assumption of C
v(W 1977)
=(C
v
)
BTCM
,
after the DWTT term was eliminated, the following correction
of the BTCM predicted CVN toughness was obtained:
Copyright 2012 by ASME 7
( ) ( ) | | 4 . 12 29 . 10 138 . 0 04133 . 0
597 . 2
+ =
BTCM V arrest V
C C
(16)
where the CVN energy and constant are in ft-lb.
Wolodko and Stephens [11] at C-FER in 2006 converted
this Wilkowski CVN correction equation (16) from the English
units to the SI units as:
( ) ( ) | | 8 . 16 29 . 10 1018 . 0 056 . 0
597 . 2
+ =
BTCM V arrest V
C C
(17)
where the CVN energy and the constant are in Joules. Equation
(16) or (17) is assumed to use for determining the arrest
toughness if the BTCM predicted CVN toughness is obtained
for high strength pipeline steels. Actually, Eiber [8-9] utilized
Eq. (17) in the evaluation of arrest CVN toughness for X70 and
X80 pipeline steels and showed its overestimation.
Figure 7 compares the predictions of minimum arrest CVN
toughness obtained by the four CVN correction methods, i.e.,
the Leis factor method in Eqs (4) and (5), the CSM factor
method in Eq. (6) and the Wilkowski CVN correction method
in Eq. (17). Again, it assumes that X80 pipeline steel is
considered in this figure, and the CSM factor prediction is
more accurate because it is a direct result by comparing the
BTCM prediction to measured arrest CVN data. Figure 7
shows that this Wilkowski correction equation (17) gives a
conservative result that is larger than that obtained by Leis
correction equation (5) or CSM factor equation (6). While it
looks not too bad in comparison to the CSM factor method, the
assumption embedded in Eqs (16) and (17) is incorrect.

Japan HLP Model
In the late 1970s, in parallel to the work done at Battelle on
DWTT specimens, Japanese researchers [24-25] started a
research program called HLP and did extensive work in
developing an extended model of the fracture model in the
BTCM where the material resistance is expressed in terms of
precracked DWTT energy. For soil backfill conditions, Crack
velocity in the DWTT-based HLP model is expressed as:

0
100
200
300
400
500
0 50 100 150 200 250
(
C
v
)
a
r
r
e
s
t
,

J
o
u
l
e
(CV)BTCM, Joule
Equation (4)
Equation (5)
Equation (6)
Equation (17)

Figure 7. Comparison of arrest CVN toughness predictions
by four CVN correction methods
393 . 0
1 670 . 0
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
a
f
f
P
P
R
V
o
(18)
(
(

=

]
10 81 . 3
exp[ arccos 382 . 0
2
7
Dt
R
D
t
P
f
f
a
o
o
(19)
where V
c
is the crack velocity in m/s,
o
f
=(o
y
+o
uts
)/2 is the flow stress,
R=D
p
/A
p
is the material resistance in Joules/mm
2
,
D
p
is the estimated total energy of pre-cracked DWTT
specimen in Joules,
A
p
is the fracture area of pre-cracked DWTT specimen in
mm
2
,
P is the decompressed pressure at the crack tip in MPa,
P
a
is the arrest pressure in MPa,
D is the pipe diameter in mm, and
t is the pipe thickness in mm.
Since Eq. (18) was calibrated in reference to the full-scale
burst test data for X70 pipeline steels, and thus its applications
to X80 and above are not recommended. As such, this DWTT-
based HLP model suffers the problems similar to the BTCM
for high strength pipeline steels X80 and above.

FURTHER DISCUSSIONS ON ARREST TOUGHNESS
METHODS

Discussions on CVN Energy Methods
Figure 8 shows the actually measured CVN energy versus
the predicted CVN energy by BTCM for high strength pipeline
steels X80 and X100 presented by Demofonti et al. [10], where
experimental burst data were extracted from the CSM database.
As evident in this figure, the BTCM underestimates the actual
arrest CVN energy and results in non-conservative predictions.
Similar results were observed for the simplified BTCM model.
Thus, a factor to determine arrest toughness from the BTCM
prediction is required as 1.43 for X80 and 1.7 for X100, as
embedded in Eq. (6) for the CSM factor method.


Figure 8. Actual vs predicted CVN energies by BTCM for high
strength pipeline steels X80 and X100 (it was taken from [10])

Copyright 2012 by ASME 8
Combining Figs (2) and (8) shows that (a) the Leis factor
equation (5) modified by Eiber [8-9] can obtain more accurate
predictions of arrest CVN toughness in comparison to the CSM
linear factor method, (b) the original Leis factor equation (4)
underestimates slightly the actual arrest CVN energy (this is
not surprising because Eq. (4) was calibrated for grades up to
X70), and (c) the statistical factor method overly estimates the
arrest CVN energy. As a result, the Leis factor method in Eq.
(5) is the best one for the X80 pipeline steel. However, this
promising method underestimates the arrest toughness for
X100. Thus the Leis correction is a viable method, but needs
further improvement in applications to grades above X80.
The backfill correction method proposed by Rudland and
Wilkowski [12, 19] only considered the effect of backfill height
and limited to the pipeline steels with CVN energy less than
100 Joules. If the backfill height used in an actual burst test for
high strength steels is equal to the original backfill height as
used in the BTCM, Equation (8) reduces to Eq. (1). As such,
there is no any improvement made for this situation. Thus, this
backfill correction method has a limited use.
The speed-dependent toughness method proposed at
TransCanada considered the effect of fracture speed on the
fracture resistance in terms of CVN or DWTT energy, which is
consistent with the common understanding that dynamic
fracture toughness depends on the loading rate. This method is
a reasonable improvement of the BTCM where a constant
resistance was replaced by a speed-dependent resistance.
However, it has involved the reference resistance, the reference
speed and a constant index. In general, how to quantify these
parameters is a challenge for this model.

Discussions on DWTT Energy Methods
Figure 9 shows broad experimental relations between the
standard pressed-notch DWTT and CVN energy densities for
various pipeline grades, including high strength pipeline steels
X80 and X100 presented by Demofonti et al. [10], where
experimental burst data were extracted from the CSM database.
The linear correlation in Eq. (10) is included in this figure. Leis
and Eiber [5] obtained similar experimental trends for X65. As
evident in Fig. 9, the experimental trend deviates from the
linear relationship at the CVN energy density of ~120 J/cm
2
(or
570 ft-lb/in
2
) that is equal to the CVN energy of ~95 Joules (or
70 ft-lb). From Eq. (10), this CVN energy corresponds to the
DWTT energy density at 420 J/cm
2
(2000 ft-lb/in
2
). Back to
see Fig. 5, it is seen that the linearity between the brittle-notch
and pressed-notch DWTT specimens is good only up to the
measured DWTT energy density of 2000 ft-lb/in
2
. Therefore,
this implies that the nonlinearity between the DWTT and CVN
energies or the notched and cracked DWTT energies starts at
the same critical point, where the actual CVN energy is 95
Joules and the actual DWTT energy density is 420 J/cm
2
. Thus,
the relationships between CVN, notched or cracked DWTT
energies are nonlinear for high toughness steels, and the similar
problem exists in the BTCM if any DWTT specimen is used.

Figure 9. Correlation between DWTT and CVN energies (it
was taken from [10]

After the critical point, the experimental trend in Fig. 9
becomes nonlinear in a bending down manner, which is similar
to the experimental trend in Fig. 4. In contrast, the three
correlations between DWTT and CVN energy densities
proposed by Wilkowski and by Kawaguchi have a nonlinear
relationship in a bending up manner. This opens to question the
utility of Eqs (12) to (15). Likewise, the same question goes to
Eq. (16) or (17) for the Wilkowski CVN correction method in
addition to the incorrect embedded assumption. And thus their
predictions become plausible if they are used in an assessment.
Demofonti et al [10] pointed out that while the DWTT
propagation energy seems to describe well the fracture
behavior for full-scale burst tests, the differences in terms of
absorbed energy between arrest and propagation conditions are
not so relevant, and for practical application could be within
the same level of scatter of pipe production. Thus, use of CVN
and DWTT energy may be in the same level for predicting
arrest toughness. Similarly, the DWTT-based HLP model bears
inaccuracy to determine arrest toughness for modern steels.

CONCLUSIONS
This paper evaluated the CVN and DWTT energy methods
in determination of arrest toughness for high strength gas
transmission pipelines. The BTCM and its modified methods in
terms of CVN or DWTT energy, including the often used Leis
correction method, the CSM factor method, and the Wilkowski
DWTT method, were reviewed and discussed in comparison
with the full-scale experimental burst data for high grade
ductile pipeline steels including X80 and X100.
The results showed that the available nonlinear models for
correlating DWTT and CVN energy densities are highly
questionable, and the similar problem to the CVN energy could
exist if DWTT energy was used in the BTCM. In contrast, this
evaluation showed that the Leis correction method is a viable
one for use to determine the arrest toughness of high strength
pipeline steels, but further investigation is needed for ultra-high
pipeline grades like X100.
Copyright 2012 by ASME 9
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