On the effect of Lüders bands on the bending of steel tubes. Part I: Experiments

In several practical applications hot-finished steel pipe that exhibits Lüders bands is bent to strains of 2–3%. Lüders banding is a material instability that leads to inhomogeneous plastic deformation in the range of 1–4%. This work investigates the influence of Lüders banding on the inelastic response and stability of tubes under rotation controlled pure bending. Part I presents the results of an experimental study involving tubes of several diameter-to-thickness ratios in the range of 33.2–14.7 and Lüders strains of 1.8–2.7%. In all cases the initial elastic regime terminates at a local moment maximum and the local nucleation of narrow angled Lüders bands of higher strain on the tension and compression sides of the tube. As the rotation continues the bands multiply and spread axially causing the affected zone to bend to a higher curvature while the rest of the tube is still at the curvature corresponding to the initial moment maximum. With further rotation of the ends the higher curvature zone(s) gradually spreads while the moment remains essentially unchanged. For relatively low D/t tubes and/or short Lüders strains, the whole tube eventually is deformed to the higher curvature entering the usual hardening regime. Subsequently it continues to deform uniformly until the usual limit moment instability is reached. For high D/t tubes and/or materials with longer Lüders strains, the propagation of the larger curvature is interrupted by collapse when a critical length is Lüders deformed leaving behind part of the structure essentially undeformed. The higher the D/t and/or the longer the Lüders strain is, the shorter the critical length. Part II presents a numerical modeling framework for simulating this behavior.     

Ratcheting and wrinkling of tubes due to axial cycling under internal pressure: Part II analysis

Part I presented a set of experiments in which pressurized tubes were cycled axially under stress control about a compressive mean stress. This loading history causes biaxial ratcheting involving compressive axial strain and expansion of the diameter of the tube. The compressive strain in turn induces the initiation and growth of axisymmetric wrinkles. Persistent cycling resulted in localization of the wrinkles and collapse. In Part II the problem is first modeled as a shell with initial axisymmetric imperfections while the biaxial ratcheting of the material is modeled using the Dafalias–Popov two-surface nonlinear kinematic hardening model. It is demonstrated that when suitably calibrated this modeling framework reproduces the prevalent ratcheting deformations and the evolution of wrinkling including the conditions at collapse accurately for all experiments. The calibrated model is then used to evaluate the ratcheting behavior of pipes under thermal-pressure cyclic loading histories experienced by axially restrained pipelines.     

Spatiotemporal airy light bullets in the linear and nonlinear regimes

We demonstrate the realization of intense Airy-Airy-Airy (Airy(3)) light bullets by combining a spatial Airy beam with an Airy pulse in time. The Airy(3) light bullets belong to a family of linear spatiotemporal wave packets that do not require any specific tuning of the material optical properties for their formation and withstand both diffraction and dispersion during their propagation. We show that the Airy(3) light bullets are robust up to the high intensity regime, since they are capable of healing the nonlinearly induced distortions of their spatiotemporal profile.     

On the crushing of aluminum open-cell foams: Part II analysis

Part II of this study is concerned with the modeling of all aspects of the compressive response and crushing of the open-cell Al foam studied in Part I. The foam microstructure is modeled using the regular cell of Kelvin with cell anisotropy and ligament geometry established by X-ray tomography. The ligaments are modeled as shear-deformable beams and the material is elastoplastic calibrated to the properties of the Al alloy base material. It is demonstrated that the initiation stress of measured responses is associated with a limit load instability that results from plastification of foam ligaments due to combined bending and axial compression. The periodicity of the Kelvin cell enables calculation of the initial elastic properties as well as the initiation stress with just a single fully periodic characteristic cell. The crushing response is evaluated by considering finite size 3D domains that allow localized deformation to develop. Localization is in the form of shear buckling that develops along the principal diagonals of the Kelvin cell foam. Localized crushing is arrested by contact between the ligaments of the buckled cells. Contact is approximated by limiting the amount a cell can collapse in the direction of the applied load. This arrests local collapse and causes it to spread to neighboring material at a nearly constant stress level as in the experiments. The stress picks up when the whole domain has crushed. Although the calculated collapse patterns differed from the more random ones observed in the experiments, the calculated force–displacement responses match very well the experimental ones in all aspects.     

On the crushing of aluminum open-cell foams: Part I. Experiments

This two-part study is concerned with the understanding and modeling of the compressive response of open-cell metallic foams. Part I presents experimental results from Al-6101-T6 foams of three different cell sizes with relative densities of about 8%. X-ray tomography is first used to characterize the geometry of the microstructure. The cells are irregular polyhedra of nearly uniform size that are somewhat elongated in one direction. The ligaments are nearly straight with convex, three-sided cross-sections and variable area distribution along their length. Foam specimens were compressed at slow displacement rates along the rise and transverse directions and the evolution of crushing in the specimens was monitored using X-ray tomography. In both directions, the response is initially nearly linear, terminating into a limit load that is followed by an extensive load plateau. At an average strain of about 55% the load increases monotonically again due to densification. The limit load is caused by plastification due to combined compression and bending of the ligaments. Beyond this point, cells start to buckle and collapse locally, forming bands that cover the full cross-section of the specimen. Contact of the collapsing cells arrests local deformation triggering collapse in neighboring cells. In this manner, crushing gradually spreads throughout the specimen and when this is achieved the load required for further deformation starts to rise. The initial elastic modulus, the stresses at the limit load and the plateau and the extent of the plateau have been measured as a function of relative density for both directions. The stress–displacement response in the transverse direction is generally somewhat lower than in the rise direction but the prevalent events were found to be similar in the two directions.