ENGINEERING FRACTURE MECHANICS, cilt.42, sa.4, ss.675-674, 1992 (SCI-Expanded)
A new small-scale test method has been developed for generating steady-state rapid crack propagation in plastic pipe. Using this method, a series of exploratory tests are used to investigate the variation in critical pressure (i.e. the threshold of crack self-arrest) with parameters which are seen to influence it in full-scale tests: temperature, pipe wall thickness, decompression properties of the pressurising medium, and external constraint. Scaling rules relating small- and full-scale results for different diameters are discussed using British Gas full-scale test data, and in the light of thickness effects measured in small-scale tests.