Effect of welding process on fatigue crack growth behaviour of austenitic stainless steel welds in a low alloy (Q & T) steel

Fatigue crack growth behaviour from a lack of penetration (LOP) defect in austenitic stainless steel weld metals of cruciform joints made of a low alloy high strength (Q & T) steel has been studied to understand the effect of two welding processes, namely, shielded metal arc welding (SMAW) and flux cored arc welding (FCAW). Fatigue crack growth studies were carried out at a stress ratio of R = 0 and a frequency of 90 to 110 Hz in a resonant testing equipment (Rumul, Model:8601). Crack growth rates were relatively lower in the weld metal obtained by flux cored arc welding process. Microstructural features observed revealed marked difference in the morphology of delta ferrite for the welded joints obtained from the above two welding processes. Long streaks of delta ferrite in austenite matrix were found in case of SMAW-weld metal which seem to have lowered the resistance to the fatigue crack propagation. A discontinuous network of delta ferrite found in austenite matrix in the case of FCAW-weld metal seems to have contributed to slower propagation of fatigue crack. Fractographic features also substantiate the observed trends in the fatigue crack growth behaviour.     

Fluid forces on a very low Reynolds number airfoil and their prediction

This paper presents the measurements of mean and fluctuating forces on an NACA0012 airfoil over a large range of angle (α) of attack (0-90°) and low to small chord Reynolds numbers (Re_c), 5.3 × 10³-5.1 × 10⁴, which is of both fundamental and practical importance. The forces, measured using a load cell, display good agreement with the estimate from the LDA-measured cross-flow distributions of velocities in the wake based on the momentum conservation. The dependence of the forces on both α and Re_c is determined and discussed in detail. It has been found that the stall of an airfoil, characterized by a drop in the lift force and a jump in the drag force, occurs at Re_c ? 1.05 × 10⁴ but is absent at Re_c = 5.3 × 10³. A theoretical analysis is developed to predict and explain the observed dependence of the mean lift and drag on α.     

Fatigue life prediction of welded cruciform joints using strain energy density factor approach

The influences of two welding processes, namely, shielded metal arc welding (SMAW) and flux cored arc welding (FCAW), on fatigue life of cruciform joints containing lack of penetration (LOP) defects have been analyzed by using the strain energy density factor (SEDF) approach. Load carrying cruciform joints were fabricated from ASTM 517 ‘F’ grade steel. Fatigue crack growth experiments were carried out in a mechanical resonance vertical pulsator (SCHENCK 200 kN capacity) with a frequency of 30 Hz under constant amplitude loading (R=0). It was found that the fatigue lives of the cruciform joints fabricated by SMAW process were relatively higher than the FCAW counterpart. Moreover, fracture mechanics equations have been developed to predict the fatigue life of the cruciform joints fabricated by the above-mentioned two processes.     

Non-coaxiality of strain increment and stress directions in cross-anisotropic sand

An experimental program was carried out in a recently developed torsion shear apparatus to study the non-coaxiality of strain increment and stress directions in cross-anisotropic deposits of Fine Nevada sand. Forty-four drained torsion shear tests were performed at constant mean confining stress, σ_m, constant intermediate principal stress ratios, as indicated by b = (σ₂ − σ₃)/(σ₁ − σ₃), and constant principal stress directions, α. The experiments were performed on large hollow cylinder specimens deposited by dry pluviation and tested in an automated torsion shear apparatus. The specimens had height of 40 cm, and average diameter of 20 cm, and wall thickness of 2 cm. The stress–strain behavior of Fine Nevada sand is presented for discrete combinations of constant principal stress direction, α, and intermediate principal stress. The effects of these two variables on the non-coaxiality are presented. The experiments show that the directions of the strain increments do not in general coincide with the directions of stresses, and there is a switch from one to the other side between the two quantities.     

Effect of primary jet geometry on ejector performance: A cold-flow investigation

The following cold-flow study examines the interaction of the diffracted shock wave pattern and the resulting vortex loop emitted from a shock tube of various geometries, with an ejector having a round bell-shaped inlet. The focus of the study is to examine the performance of the ejector when using different jet geometries (primary flow) to entrain secondary flow through the ejector. These include two circular nozzles with internal diameters of 15 mm and 30 mm, two elliptical nozzles with minor to major axis ratios of a/b = 0.4 and 0.6 with b = 30 mm, a square nozzle with side lengths of 30 mm, and two exotic nozzles resembling a pair of lips with axis ratios of a/b = 0.2 and 0.5 with b = 30 mm. Shock tube driver pressures of P₄ = 4, 8, and 12 bar were studied, with the pressure of the shock tube driven section P₁ being atmospheric. High-speed schlieren photography using the Shimadzu Hypervision camera along with detailed pressure measurements along the ejector and the impulse created by the ejector were conducted.     

Non-linear dynamics of semi-dilute polydisperse polymer solutions in microfluidics: A study of a benchmark flow problem

The complex flow behaviour of semi-dilute (15 < c/c^* < 22.5) polydisperse polyethylene oxide (PEO) aqueous solutions flowing through a planar microfluidic geometry with an 8:1:8 contraction-expansion is systematically studied. The molecular weight and distribution of the PEO samples are analysed by Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC). Full rheometric characterizations using various techniques including piezoelectric axial vibrator (PAV) measurements at frequencies as high as 6700 Hz are carried out for one semi-dilute PEO solution. Complex flows over a wide range of elasticity numbers (20 ? El ? 120), Weissenberg numbers (7 ? Wi ? 121) and Reynolds numbers (0.08 ? Re ? 4.5) are characterized using micro-particle image velocimetry (μ-PIV) and pressure drop measurements. The evolution of vortex formation and dynamics has been visualized through a step-flow-rate experiment. The effect of El on vortex stability has been studied. Various flow dynamics regimes have been quantified and are presented in a Wi-Re diagram. The experimental results reveal that the elastic behaviour of polymer solutions is very sensitive to high molecular weight polymer in the polydisperse polymer samples, and the contraction ratio and the aspect ratio of flow geometry are the important design parameters in controlling the non-linear dynamics of semi-dilute polymer solutions in microfluidics.     

Influence of stress triaxiality and temperature on void growth and ductile/brittle transition behavior of 40 Cr steel

Examined experimentally are the influence of stress triaxiality and temperature on the growth of microvoids and the ductile/brittle transition (DBT) macrobehavior of 40 Cr steel subjected to two different heat treatments. This is accomplished by testing more than 300 smooth and notched specimens over a temperature range of 20°C to −196°C. Changes in the microstructure morphology are examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and identified with fracture data on a surface constructed from the uniaxial strain ε_c at fracture, the stress triaxiality R_σ and the temperature T. While stress triaxiality has a significant influence on the DBT temperature T_c, it does not affect the ratio of the average radius of voids R_o to that of inclusions R_i. The ratio R_o/R_i is found to increase with temperature and remains constant in specimens with different notch radii regardless of the temperature. Empirical relations between T_c and R_σ⁻ and R_o/R_i and T are proposed to better understand how macrofracture parameters are influenced by microstructure entities.     

Mode II fracture behavior of a Zr-based bulk metallic glass

Shear band formation and fracture are characterized during mode II loading of a Zr-based bulk metallic glass. The measured mode II fracture toughness, K_IIc=75±4 MPa√m, exceeds the reported mode I fracture toughness by ∼4 times, suggesting that normal or mean stresses play a significant role in the deformation process at the crack tip. This effect is explained in light of a mean stress modified free volume model for shear localization in metallic glasses. Thermal imaging of deformation at the mode II crack tip further reveals that shear bands initiate, arrest, and reactivate along the same path, indicating that flow in the shear band leads to permanent changes in the glass structure that retain a memory of the shear band path. The measured temperature increase within the shear band is a fraction of a degree. However, heat dissipation models indicate that the temperature could have exceeded the glass transition temperature for less than 1 ms immediately after the shear band formed. It is shown that this time scale is sufficient for mechanical relaxation slightly above the glass transition temperature.     

Flow regime development analysis in adiabatic upward two-phase flow in a vertical annulus

In this work radial and axial flow regime development in adiabatic upward air-water two-phase flow in a vertical annulus has been investigated. Local flow regimes have been identified using conductivity probes and neural networks techniques. The inner and outer diameters of the annulus are 19.1 mm and 38.1 mm, respectively. The equivalent hydraulic diameter of the flow channel, D_H, is 19.0 mm and the total length is 4.37 m. The flow regime map includes 1080 local flow regimes identifications in 72 flow conditions within a range of 0.01 m/s < 〈j_g〉 < 30 m/s and 0.2 m/s < 〈j_f〉 < 3.5 m/s where 〈j_g〉 and 〈j_f〉 are, respectively, superficial gas and liquid velocities. The local flow regime has been classified into four categories: bubbly, cap-slug, churn-turbulent and annular flows. In order to study the radial and axial development of flow regime the measurements have been performed at five radial locations. The three axial positions correspond to z/D_H = 52, 149 and 230, where z represents the axial position. The flow regime indicator has been chosen as some statistical parameters of local bubble chord length distributions and self-organized neural networks have been used as mapping system. This information has been also used to compare the results given by the existing flow regime transition models. The local flow regime is characterized basically by the void fraction and bubble chord length. The radial development of flow regime shows partial and complete local flow regime combinations. The radial development is controlled by axial location and superficial liquid velocity. The radial flow regime transition is always initiated in the center of the flow channel and it is propagated towards the channel boundaries. The axial development of flow regime is observed in all the flow maps and it is governed by superficial liquid velocity and radial location. The prediction results of the models are compared for each flow regime transition.     

Evaporation heat transfer coefficient in single circular small tubes for flow natural refrigerants of C3H8, NH3, and CO2

An experimental study of evaporation heat transfer coefficients for single circular small tubes was conducted for the flow of C₃H₈, NH₃, and CO₂ under various flow conditions. The test matrix encompasses the entire quality range from 0.0 to 1.0, mass fluxes from 50 to 600 kg m⁻² s⁻¹, heat fluxes from 5 to 70 kW m⁻², and saturation temperatures from 0 to 10 °C. The test section was made of circular stainless steel tubes with inner diameters of 1.5 mm and 3.0 mm, and a length of 2000 mm in a horizontal orientation. The test section was uniformly heated by applying electric power directly to the tubes. The effects of mass flux, heat flux, saturation temperature, and inner tube diameter on the heat transfer coefficient are reported. Among the working refrigerants considered in this study, CO₂ has the highest heat transfer coefficient. Laminar flow was observed in the evaporative small tubes, and was considered in the modification of boiling heat transfer coefficients and pressure drop correlations.     

Progressive fracture of laminated composite stiffened plate

Laminated fiber-reinforced composite stiffened plate with [0/90/±45]_S plies made of S-Glass/epoxy are evaluated via computational simulation to study damage and fracture progression. The loads are pressure and temperature which varies from 21 to 65.5 °C (case I) and from 143.3 to 21 °C (case II). An integrated computer code is used for the simulation of the damage progression. Results show that damage initiation begins at low load level, with matrix cracking at the 0° (bottom and top) plies, fiber fracture at the bottom (0°) ply and interply delamination at the top (0°) ply. Increasing the applied pressure, the damage growth is expended resulting in fracture through the thickness of the structure. At this stage, 90% of the plies damage at applied pressure 15.306 MPa for the case I and 15.036 MPa for the case II. After this stage, the cracks propagate rapidly and the structure collapses.     

Effect of surfactant concentration on saturated flow boiling in vertical narrow annular channels

Saturated flow boiling of environmentally acceptable nonionic surfactant solutions of Alkyl (8–16) was compared to that of pure water. The concentration of surfactant solutions was in the range of 100–1000 ppm. The liquid flowed in an annular gap of 2.5 and 4.4 mm between two vertical tubes. The heat was transferred from the inner heated tube to two-phase flow in the range of mass flux from 5 to 18 kg/m² s and heat flux from 40 to 200 kW/m². Boiling curves of water were found to be heat flux and channel gap size dependent but essentially mass flux independent. An addition of surfactant to the water produced a large number of bubbles of small diameter, which, at high heat fluxes, tend to cover the entire heater surface with a vapor blanket. It was found that the heat transfer increased at low values of relative surfactant concentration C/C₀, reaches a maximum close to the value of C/C₀ = 1 (where C₀ = 300 ppm is the critical micelle concentration) and decreased with further increase in the amount of additive. The dependence of the maximal values of the relative heat transfer enhancement, obtained at the value of relative concentration of C/C₀ = 1, on the boiling number Bo may be presented as single curve for both gap sizes and the whole range of considered concentrations.     

Frost formation in vertical channels under natural convection

Processes involving heat transfer from a humid air stream to a cold plate, with simultaneous deposition of frost, are of great importance in a variety of refrigeration equipment. In this paper, frost growth on a cold, vertical plate in free convection has been experimentally investigated. The cold plate (0.095 m high, 0.282 m wide) was placed in vertical channels open at the top and bottom in order to permit the natural circulation of ambient air. The channels, rectangular in shape, were 2.395 m high and 0.36 m wide, with the depth set equal either to 20 mm, or 10 mm, or 6 mm in order to infer the influence of channel flow area on the natural convection and frost formation. The cold plate temperature and the air relative humidity were varied in the −40 to −4 °C and 31–85% range, respectively, with the air temperature held fixed at 27 °C (±1 °C). Several quantities (thickness, temperature and mass of frost, heat flux at the cold plate), were measured during the time-evolution of the process (7.5 h from the frost growth inception), and are presented as functions of the input parameters (relative humidity and cold plate temperature); in particular, the role exerted by the plate confinement on the frost growth is discussed. Data are recast in order to identify compact parameters able to correlate frost mass, thickness and density data.     

Thermal and gas flow characterization of a fluxless Si solder bonding oven

In this paper the technology of the “Linn” type Si fluxless solder bonding oven and the thermal and gas flow characterization of the oven are discussed. This oven is used for fixing silicon chips on metal substrates with high temperature solder bonding process. The solder is applied in a foil form which is placed between the Si chip and the metal substrate. This does not contain any flux, therefore a reducing agent has to be applied to avoid the oxidation of the joints during the soldering process. In this technology the reducing agent is the forming gas which is a mixture of 10 vol.% H₂ and 90 vol.% N₂. The key factors of this soldering process was studied; the suitable temperature (350-370 °C for 13-15 min) and the adequate H₂ concentration (8-10 vol.%). A detailed 3D gas flow model of the Linn oven was prepared which is based on the finite volume model (FVM) method. The gas flow circumstances using the basic and a hypothetic oven setting were compared by simulations applied the ANSYS-FLUENT system. The gas flow model was verified by the measurements of the temperature, the H₂ concentration and the pressure inside the oven. Furthermore the heating ability of the oven under full load was characterized by the change of the heating temperature and the time coefficient of the heating.     

Subcooled flow boiling of R-134a in vertical channels of small diameter

Subcooled flow boiling heat transfer for refrigerant R-134a in vertical cylindrical tubes with 0.83, 1.22 and 1.70 mm internal diameter was experimentally investigated. The effects of the heat flux, q″ = 1–26 kW/m², mass flux, G = 300–700 kg/m² s, inlet subcooling, ΔT_sub,i = 5–15 °C, system pressure, P = 7.70–10.17 bar, and channel diameter, D, on the subcooled boiling heat transfer were explored in detail. The results are presented in the form of boiling curves and heat transfer coefficients. The boiling curves evidenced the existence of hysteresis when increasing the heat flux until the onset of nucleate boiling, ONB. The wall superheat at ONB was found to be essentially higher than that predicted with correlations for larger tubes. An increase of the mass flux leads, for early subcooled boiling, to an increase in the heat transfer coefficient. However, for fully developed subcooled boiling, increases of the mass flux only result in a slight improvement of the heat transfer. Higher inlet subcooling, higher system pressure and smaller channel diameter lead to better boiling heat transfer. Experimental heat transfer coefficients are compared to predictions from classical correlations available in the literature. None of them predicts the experimental data for all tested conditions.     

The propagation and localization of Rayleigh waves in disordered piezoelectric phononic crystals

In this paper, the propagation and localization of Rayleigh waves in disordered piezoelectric phononic crystals with material 6 mm are studied taking the electromechanical coupling into account. The electric field is approximated as quasi-static. The analytical solutions of Rayleigh waves are obtained. The 6×6 transfer matrix between two consecutive unit cells is obtained by means of the mechanical and electrical continuity conditions. The expression of the localization factor in disordered periodic structures is presented by regarding the variables of the mechanical and electrical fields as the elements of the state vector. The numerical results for a piezoelectric phononic crystal—PVDF-PZT-2 piezocomposite—are presented and analyzed. From the results we can see that the localization is strengthened with the increase of the disorder degree. The characteristics of the passbands and stopbands are influenced by different ratios of the thickness of the polymers to that of the piezoelectric ceramics. Disorder in elastic constant c₁₁ of PZT-2 can also result in the localization phenomenon. The propagation and localization of Rayleigh waves in piezoelectric phononic crystals may be controlled by properly designing some structural parameters.     

Size effects on the martensitic phase transformation of NiTi nanograins

The analysis of nanocrystalline NiTi by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) shows that the martensitic transformation proceeds by the formation of atomic-scale twins. Grains of a size less than about 50 nm do not transform to martensite even upon large undercooling. A systematic investigation of these phenomena was carried out elucidating the influence of the grain size on the energy barrier of the transformation. Based on the experiment, nanograins were modeled as spherical inclusions containing (0 0 1) compound twinned martensite. Decomposition of the transformation strains of the inclusions into a shear eigenstrain and a normal eigenstrain facilitates the analytical calculation of shear and normal strain energies in dependence of grain size, twin layer width and elastic properties. Stresses were computed analytically for special cases, otherwise numerically. The shear stresses that alternate from twin layer to twin layer are concentrated at the grain boundaries causing a contribution to the strain energy scaling with the surface area of the inclusion, whereas the strain energy induced by the normal components of the transformation strain and the temperature dependent chemical free energy scale with the volume of the inclusion. In the nanograins these different energy contributions were calculated which allow to predict a critical grain size below which the martensitic transformation becomes unlikely. Finally, the experimental result of the atomic-scale twinning can be explained by analytical calculations that account for the transformation-opposing contributions of the shear strain and the twin boundary energy of the twin-banded morphology of martensitic nanograins.     

Subcooled pool boiling of water on a downward-facing stainless steel disk in a gap

Pool boiling is experimentally studied on a relatively large downward-facing surface with heated stainless steel disk diameters of D = 100 and 300 mm in confined space at atmospheric pressure using water as the working fluid. The bulk working fluid is subcooled. The gap size s can be adjusted to 10, 15 and 20 mm for D = 100 mm and 0.9–77 mm for D = 300 mm. We found that pool boiling under the present condition is far weaker than that occurring on an upward-facing surface. Furthermore, we found that the larger the diameter of the stainless steel plate, the weaker the pool boiling heat transfer. The heat transfer rate may be predicted by the Kutateladze correlation for s > 20 mm and by its modified form for s < 20 mm for both D = 100 and D = 300 mm. Two different typical bubble circulation motions are found. Type I motion occurs with a probability of 90.9% and type II occurs with a probability of 9.1% according to the statistical calculations. Most coalesced bubble diameters are from 90 to 100 mm for D = 100 mm and from 100 to 200 mm for D = 300 mm.     

Enhanced nucleate boiling on copper micro-porous surfaces

Saturation boiling of PF-5060 dielectric liquid on Cu micro-porous surface layers (95, 139, 171, 197 and 220-μm thick) is investigated. These layers are deposited on 10 × 10 mm Cu substrates using two-stage electrochemical process. The basic micro-structure, obtained in the first stage using current density of 3 A/cm² for 15–44 s, depending on thickness, is strengthened by continuing electrochemical deposition using much lower current density for 10’s of minutes. For conditioned surface layers, after a few successive boiling tests, the pool boiling curves are reproducible and the temperature excursion prior to boiling incipience is either eliminated or reduced <7 K. Present nucleate boiling results are markedly better than those reported for dielectric liquids on micro- and macro-structured surfaces. Present values of CHF (22.7–27.8 W/cm²) and h_MNB (2.05–13.5 W/cm² K) are ∼40–70% higher than and >17 times those reported on plane surfaces (<16 W/cm² and ∼0.8 W/cm² K). Best results are those of the 171-μm thick layer: CHF of 27.8 W/cm² occurs at ΔT_sat of only 2.1 K and h_MNB of 13.5 W/cm² K occurs at ΔT_sat = 2.0 K.     

Two-phase frictional pressure drop multipliers for SUVA R-134a flowing in a rectangular duct

The adiabatic two-phase frictional multipliers for SUVA, R-134a flowing in a rectangular duct (with D_H = 4.8 mm) have been measured for three nominal system pressures (0.9 MPa, T_sat = 35.5 °C; 1.38 MPa, T_sat = 51.8 °C; and 2.41 MPa, T_sat = 75.9 °C) and three nominal mass fluxes (510, 1020 and 2040 kg/m²/s). The data is compared with several classical correlations to assess their predictive capabilities. The Lockhart–Martinelli model gives reasonable results at the lowest pressure and mass flux, near the operating range of most refrigeration systems, but gives increasingly poor comparisons as the pressure and mass flux are increased. The Chisholm B-coefficient model is found to best predict the data over the entire range of test conditions; however, there is significant disagreement at the highest pressure tested (with the model over predicting the data upwards of 100% for some cases). The data shows an increased tendency toward homogeneous flow as the pressure and flow rate are increased, and in fact the homogeneous model best predicts the bulk of the data at the highest pressure tested.