Influence of interaction between multiple cracks on stress corrosion crack propagation Masayuki Kamaya * , Nobuo Totsuka Institute of Nuclear Safety System, Inc., 64 Sata, Mihama-cho, Mikata-gun, Fukui 919-1205, Japan Received 4 September 2001; accepted 8 January 2002 Abstract The interaction between multiple cracks has a major influence on crack growth behaviours. This influence is particularly significant in stress corrosion cracking (SCC) because of the relatively large number of cracks initiated due to environmental effects. In the SCC experi- ments using alloy 600 in high-temperature environments, many cracks were observed on the surface of fractured specimens. In this study, the interaction between multiple cracks was evaluated using a crack growth simulation. Some improvements were made to the simulation to reduce the calculation loads, which made it possible to conduct the simulation for many cases. Through the simulation, the relationships between the interaction and relative position, relative length, etc. of cracks were examined. The influence of the interaction between multiple cracks on the experimental results is then discussed. Ó 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Multiple cracks; Interaction; Alloy 600; Crack growth simulation 1. Introduction It is well known that the interaction between multiple cracks has a major influence on crack growth behaviour. In stress corrosion cracking, due to the relatively large number of cracks that are initiated, the influence of this kind of interaction can be a major problem, as several studies have reported [1–3]. Studies of the interaction www.elsevier.com/locate/corsci Corrosion Science 44 (2002) 2333–2352 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +81-770-37-9111; fax: +81-770-37-2009. E-mail address: kamaya@inss.co.jp (M. Kamaya). 0010-938X/02/$ - see front matter Ó 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII:S0010-938X(02)00039-2