Fracture analysis of cladded components considering residual stresses

he present study is concerned with an experimental and numerical investigation of the behavior of sub-clad and surface cracks in cladded components considering the residual stress field due to the welding and heat treatment processes. For this purpose, two large-scale tests on cladded cracked specimens have been performed and analyzed numerically. It is observed that the fracture process is initiated in the heat affected zone of the base metal underneath the cladding whereas the cladding remains intact even in case of a brittle crack extension and arrest in the base material.