Rail web fracture in the presence of residual stresses

A recent accident involving roller-straighened alloy rail has raised the question of the safety of such rails. This work shows that the residual stresses in roller-straightened rail can indeed self-drive a long web crack. Specifically, the stress intensity K_I due to release of the key component, longitudinal stress, if of the order of the critical stress intensity for initiation K_Ic for both plain carbon and alloy rail. At cut ends, the resulting vertical residual stresses can give rise to K_Ic if there are 0.1–1 in (3–25 mm) cracks. In this work, checks of the existing residual stress data for self-consistency suggest that the data are only accurate within a factor of two. Therefore, a more direct method is proposed for measuring K_I on a web crack by saw-cutting the web.     

Fatigue crack growth studies in rail steels and associated weld metal

Fatigue crack growth studies in rail steels and associated weld metal have shown that (a) deformed rail steel exhibited fatigue crack growth rates that are slightly faster than undeformed rail steel and (b) weld metal growth data are appreciably faster than rail steel growth results and exhibit growth rate plateaux that reside above the upper bound reported for rail steel fatigue crack growth.In rail steel microstructures at low ΔK levels fatigue crack extension occurred by a ductile striated growth mechanism. However at K_max values approaching 40 MPa √m transgranular cleavage facets initially formed and their incidence increased with K_max until final fast fracture. The average cleavage facet size agreed well with pearlite nodule dimensions of 60–100 μm.The weld metal microstructure was much coarser than the rail steel and contained highly directional columnar grain growth. At all ΔK levels the dominant fracture mode was transgranular cleavage containing small isolated regions of ductile striated fatigue crack growth. The cleavage facet size varied from 150 to 600 μm; such a large variation was explained by the fact that in general crack extension tended to occur in association with the proeutectoid ferrite phase.     

钢轨表面剥离掉块路径预测研究

轮轨滚动接触下,钢轨表面会产生典型的鱼钩形剥离掉块,其形成机理目前暂未明确.为了探究轮轨滚动接触下钢轨表面裂纹扩展机理,基于最大周向拉应力准则,建立轮轨滚动接触疲劳计算模型,提出裂尖扩展路径预测方法,并对不同初始角度裂纹的扩展路径进行预测.结果表明,钢轨表面微裂纹为Ⅰ-Ⅱ复合型裂纹,随着裂纹长度增加,KⅠ先增加后减小,...     

Near threshold fatigue behaviour of flake graphite cast irons microstructures

This paper describes the influence of material toughness degradation, through reversed temper embrittlement (RTE) and mean stress on the near threshold fatigue crack growth characteristics of a CrMoV turbine bolting steel at ambient and elevated temperatures. It was established at ambient temperatures that strong effects of R-ratio and material condition (toughness) were observed on near threshold fatigue crack growth characteristics. At elevated temperatures it was shown that for the non-embrittled material that only under low R-ratio conditions did increased temperature increase the level of threshold stress intensity ΔK_th, by some 20%. In the case of embrittled material, increasing the temperature increased ΔK_th levels by around 30% and decreased near threshold growth rates by an order of magnitude at low to intermediate R-ratio levels.The effects of R-ratio on ΔK_th for all material and mechanical testing conditions could be simply expressed by the difference between ΔK_th at R = O and a constant B multiplied by R.Quantitative fractographic observations indicated that, generally, the incidence of intergranular failure prevalent in embrittled and non-embrittled steels exhibited a maximum at some specific ΔK level. Also in embrittled steels large effects of environmental assisted crack (EAC) growth were observed at near threshold fatigue crack growth rates. It was suggested that this was the result of the much reduced material cohesive strength which was caused by the presence of both impurity and hydrogen atoms.     

Influence of mean stress on the fatigue crack growth characreristics of CrlMo steel tube at elevated temperature

The fatigue crack growth characteristics of CrlMo steel have been investigated at 861 K over the R-ratio range 0.1–0.7 utilising a dwell time of 10 min. at maximum load. All tests were conducted under load control in a laboratory air environment. It was established that the R-ratio significantly affected the fatigue crack extension behaviour inasmuch that with increasing R-ratio, the critical ΔK level for the onset of creep fatigue interactive growth, ΔK^IG, decreased from 20 to 7 MPa√m and the threshold stress intensity, ΔK_th, decreased from 9 to about 3 MPa√m. At intermediate ΔK levels, i.e. between ΔK_th and ΔK^IG, the fatigue crack extension rates, for all R-ratio values, resided on or slightly below the CTOD line, which represents the upper bound for contrnuum controlled fatigue crack growth. Creep fatigue interactive growth was typified by crack extension rates that reside above the CTOD line with a ΔK^IG dependence; the attainment of some critical creep condition or crack linkage condition which causes the abrupt change in crack extension behaviour at ΔK^IG; and crack extension occurs almost exclusively in an intergranular manner. The R-ratio and ΔK^IG followed a linear relation. A literature review concerning the effect of temperature on the threshold fatigue crack growth characteristics of low alloy ferritic steels demonstrated powerful effects of temperature; the magnitude of these effects, however, were dependent upon the testing temperature regime and R-ratio level. The effect of R-ratio on ΔK_th was greatest at temperatures >400°C, significant at ambient temperatures and least in the temperature range 90°C to <300°C. The relationship between temperature and ΔK_th, at a given R-ratio, exhibited a through and a minimum ΔK_th value was observed in the temperature range 200–250°C. The magnitude of the temperature effects on ΔK_th decreased with increasing R-ratio. Such effects of temperature and R-ratio on ΔK_th was reasonably explained in terms of crack closure effects. Finally, the present elevated temperature fatigue crack growth data exhibited massive crack extension enhancement values when compared to ambient near-threshold fatigue crack growth data for CrlMo steel. Such large enhancement values were the combined effects of temperature (environment) and frequency.     

Effect of residual surface stress on the fracture of nanoscale materials

The problem of a mode I crack in nanomaterials under a remote mechanical load is investigated. The effect of the residual surface stress on the crack surface is considered and the solutions to the crack opening displacement (COD) and the stress intensity factor (K_I) are obtained. The results show that the surface effect on the crack deformation and crack tip field are prominent at nanoscale. Moreover, COD and K_I are influenced by the residual surface stress not only on the surface near the crack tip region but also on the entire crack surface.     

Fatigue crack growth through residual stress fields—theoretical and experimental studies on thick-walled cylinders

Experiments are described which determined the effects of various residual stress distributions on the growth rate of fatigue cracks. For each stress distribution, the contribution (K_RS) to the net stress intensity at the crack tip is determined, and a comparison is then made with the behaviour predicted using a fracture mechanics approach based on a weight function analysis and a simple crack closure model. The example studied is a thickwalled pressure vessel containing a longitudinal crack which grows radially from the inner surface; fatigue cracks were grown under laboratory conditions in ring test specimens. sectioned from vessels which had been cold-expanded by different amounts to increase their pressure limits, and so contained various complex residual stress distributions. The experiments provide direct evidence that the effects of residual stress (and by extension, thermal stress) on the crack tip stress intensity may be modelled conveniently using weight function techniques, and can be incorporated satisfactorily in fatigue crack growth analyses.     

The effect of contact stress intensity factors on fatigue crack propagation

Using the technique of Dimensional Analysis the phenomenon of crack closure is modelled using the concept of a contact stress intensity factor Kc. For constant amplitude loading, a simple expression, Kc_max = g(R) ΔK, is obtained without making idealized assumptions concerning crack tip behaviour. Further, by assuming that crack closure arises from the interaction of residual plasticity in the wake of the crack and crack tip compressive stresses, the function g(R) is shown to be constant for non-workhardening materials. This implies that any dependency of Kc_max on R must be attributed to the workhardening characteristic of the material. With Kc known, an “effective” stress intensity factor Ke may be calculated and incorporated into a crack growth law of the form da/dn = f(ΔKe). From analysis, it can be deduced that for a workhardening material, Kc_max will decrease as R increases and the effective stress intensity factor will increase. This means that the fatigue crack propagation rate will increase with R, in accordance with experimental observations.     

A field model interpretation of crack initiation and growth behavior in ferroelectric ceramics: change of poling direction and boundary condition

Strain energy density expressions are obtained from a field model that can qualitatively exhibit how the electrical and mechanical disturbances would affect the crack growth behavior in ferroelectric ceramics. Simplification is achieved by considering only three material constants to account for elastic, piezoelectric and dielectric effects. Cross interaction of electric field (or displacement) with mechanical stress (or strain) is identified with the piezoelectric effect; it occurs only when the pole is aligned normal to the crack. Switching of the pole axis by 90° and 180° is examined for possible connection with domain switching. Opposing crack growth behavior can be obtained when the specification of mechanical stress σ^∞ and electric field E^∞ or (σ^∞,E^∞) is replaced by strain ε^∞ and electric displacement D^∞ or (ε^∞,D^∞). Mixed conditions (σ^∞,D^∞) and (ε^∞,E^∞) are also considered. In general, crack growth is found to be larger when compared to that without the application of electric disturbances. This includes both the electric field and displacement. For the eight possible boundary conditions, crack growth retardation is identified only with (E_y^∞,σ_y^∞) for negative E_y^∞ and (D_y^∞,ε_y^∞) for positive D_y^∞ while the mechanical conditions σ_y^∞ or ε_y^∞ are not changed. Suitable combinations of the elastic, piezoelectric and dielectric material constants could also be made to suppress crack growth.     

Flexural fatigue behavior of threaded connections for large diameter pipes

Full-scale flexural fatigue tests were conducted to investigate the fatigue behavior of a patented threaded connection for large diameter (0.61 m (24 in) outside diameter, 25.4 mm (1 in) wall thickness) offshore pipes. Fifteen fatigue tests were performed by subjecting the threaded connection to constant amplitude stress ranges (between 69 MPa (10 ksi) and 151.8 MPa (22 ksi) on gross cross section) with zero mean stress. The corresponding measured fatigue lives varied from 45000 to 4852200 cycles. Fatigue failures were in the form of cracks through the thickness of the wall and located at the root of the first full contact thread. The failure surfaces were ‘typical’ with identifiable zones of crack initiation, propagation and fracture. Linear regression analysis of the experimental results, namely the applied stress range (S _r ) and the measured number of cycles to failure (N) data, in the log-log domain gave anR ² value of 0.88 and the least-squares best fit equation asS _r (MPa)=1573.2N ^−0.212. The 90% probable fatigue strength prediction equation was estimated asS _r =1393.8N ^−0.212. This equation is recommended for design purposes.     

Effect of stress ratio and specimen thickness on fatigue crack growth of CK45 steel

Presented are the effect of stress ratio and thickness on the fatigue crack growth rate of CK45 steel according to DIN 17200. Test results are obtained for constant amplitude load in tension with three stress ratios of R=0, 0.2 and 0.4 and three specimen thicknesses of B=6, 12 and 24 mm. Microgauge crack opening values were used to calculate ΔK_eff values from which the da/dN − ΔK_eff curves are obtained. Crack closure can be applied to explain the influence of mean stress and specimen thickness on the fatigue crack growth rate in the second regime of the two-parameter crack growth rate relation. An empirical model is chosen for calculating the normalized load ratio parameter U as a function of R, B and ΔK and, for correlating the test data.     

Strain strengthening effects in Witwatersrand quartzite

A series of uniaxial compression specimens were tested over a range of applied ram displacement rates of 8.9 × 10⁻⁴ to 8.9 mm/sec to elucidate the effects of loading rate on the uniaxial compressive fracture stress of Witwatersrand quartzite. It was demonstrated that even within standard loading rate ranges, considerable scatter in the fracture strength (under uniaxial compression) existed in this particular quartzite rock. Nevertheless, a definite trend of increasing fracture resistance with increasing monotonic loading rate was evident inasmuch that increasing the loading rate (strain rate) by four orders of magnitude increase the fracture strength by almost 2.8 times. Prior fatigue loading also produced a significant strain strengthening as the uniaxial compressive fracture stress tended to increase in a sigmoidal fashion with increasing number of fatigue cycles prior to testing. Indeed, the fracture strength of quartzite was almost doubled in value after 10⁻ cycles. Plane strain fracture toughness tests utilising three point bend specimens were conducted and an average of K_lc = 1.7 MPa√m was realized. In both the uniaxial compression tests and the fracture toughness tests, failure occurred by crack extension predominantly by a transgranular flat cleavage-like mode through pure quartzite (silica) regions. However, crack extension was also observed to occur in an intergranular “ductile-like” mode through areas associated with inclusions prevalent in the quartzite.     

Stress intensity factor range and propagation mode of surface cracks under rolling–sliding contact

Finite element analyses were conducted in order to evaluate the mode I and mode II stress intensity factors for inclined edge cracks under cyclic contact load under rolling and rolling–sliding condition. The SIF range depends on crack orientation, crack length to Hertzian contact zone half-width ratio, friction between the crack faces and friction on the contact surface. The results were combined in two compact functions that determine the ΔK_I and ΔK_II values. The crack propagation mode and direction were investigated using both the maximum stress criterion and the minimum strain energy density criterion. The results are displayed in graph form, which allows a fast evaluation of the crack growth condition.     

Fatigue crack growth rate in ferrite-martensite dual-phase steel

An empirical study is made on the fatigue crack growth rate in ferrite-martensite dual-phase (FMDP) steel. Particular attention is given to the effect of ferrite content in the range of 24.2% to 41.5% where good fatigue resistance was found at 33.8%. Variations in ferrite content did not affect the crack growth rate da/dN when plotted against the effective stress intensity factor range ΔK_eff which was assumed to follow a linear relation with the crack tip stress intensity factor range ΔK. A high ΔK_eff corresponds to uniformly distributed small size ferrite and martensite. No other appreciable correlation could be ralated to the microstructure morphology of the FMDP steel. The closure stress intensity factor K_cl, however, is affected by the ferrite content with K_cl/Kmax reaching a maximum value of 0.7. In general, crack growth followed the interphase between the martensite and ferrite.Dividing the fatigue crack growth process into Stage I and II where the former would be highly sensitive to changes in ΔK and the latter would increase with ΔK depending on the R = σ_min/σ_max ratio. The same data when correlated with the strain energy density factor range ΔS showed negligible dependence on mean stress or R ratio for Stage I crack growth. A parameter α involving the ratio of ultimate stress to yield stress, percent reduction of area and R is introduced for Stage II crack growth so that the da/dN data for different R would collapse onto a single curve with a narrow scatter band when plotted against αΔS.     

Stress intensification in cracked shank of tightened bolt

Defects or cracks in the shank of bolts can degrade their load carrying capacity. The ways with which loading and residual stress intensify the crack border stress field can be reflected through the stress intensity factor quantity as defined in the linear elastic fracture mechanics theory. Use is made of the stiffness derivative method where quarter-point singular finite elements are used in the numerical calculation. Improved accuracy is achieved by considering the displacements not only of the main nodes but also of those quarter-point nodes in plane normal and adjacent to the crack.Numerical results are obtained for a semi-elliptical shaped crack in the bolt shank owing to tension, bending, residual stress and stress caused by tightening of the bolt. Maximum value of the Mode I stress intensity factor K_a due to tension or bending could prevail either at the deepest point on the crack border or at the root of the shank where the crack border terminates depending on the aspect ratio of the ellipse. In general, K₁ at the deepest point of crack penetration is larger than that at the free surface for tension and bending for a fixed crack depth with reference to the bolt diameter. Tightening of the bolt tends to increase K₁ at the free surface if the crack depth is small. The opposite is obtained for deeper cracks. Assumed residual stress effect obtained from experimental data is found to have negligible influence on the stress intensity factor when compared with that arising from tensile load.     

Fracture mechanics of plates and shells applied to fail-safe analysis of fuselage Part II: Computational results

In this paper, the problem of the fracture of a fuselage stiffened by longitudinal longerons and circumferential frames is analyzed by means of the finite element method. Our research is motivated by the fail-safety design concept of fuselage for civil aircraft. In this study, the total energy release rate are evaluated for five types of basic loading, namely, axial extension, pure bending, twisting, transverse shearing, and radial expansion due to internal pressure. The crack is located either at the mid-point or near the end of the fuselage. It extends in two bays with the stiffener at its center. The stiffener which bisects the crack is assumed to be broken at the location of the crack. Computational results indicate that the total energy release rate G_t increases with the increasing crack length. However, when the crack tip approaches the stiffener, the value of G_t decreases as a result of the reinforcement from the stiffener. For a crack near the end of the fuselage, as a result of boundary effect, the value of G_t is larger in comparison with the case of the crack at the mid-point of the fuselage. We also find that the effect of geometrical nonlinearity can reduce the value of G_t for the fuselage under axial tension or pure bending. For the fractured fuselage under pure bending, shell buckling can occur at the concave side of the fuselage prior to crack growth. The maximum tensile stress in the stiffener in front of the crack tip is also investigated.     

Effect of local elastic softening on crack extension

Elastic softening materials are brittle materials such that crack extension is associated with a softening zone behind the crack tip, with the material elements within this zone exerting a restraining effect on the crack tip. Crack extension is sometimes characterised in terms of the stress intensity K_F, due to the applied loadings, at the front of the softening zone, i.e. the actual crack tip. This paper is concerned with the determination of the maximum load K_F value for a general positive geometrical configuration, for the case where the softening zone size is small compared with a solid's characteristic dimension. The resulting expression for K_F is compared with the maximum load stress intensity value K_T measured with regard to the initial crack position, i.e. the trailing edge of the softening zone.     

A centrally cracked thin circular disk, Part I: 3D Elastic–plastic finite element analysis

A full field solution, based on small deformation, three-dimensional elastic–plastic finite element analysis of the centrally cracked thin disk under mode I loading has been performed. The solution for the stresses under small-scale yielding and lo!cally fully plastic state has been compared with the HRR plane stress solution. At the outside of the 3D zone, within a distance of rσ_o/J=18, HRR dominance is maintained in the presence of a significant amount of compressive stress along the crack flanks. Ahead of this region, the HRR field overestimate the stresses. These results demonstrate a completely reversed state of stress in the near crack front compared to that in the plane strain case. The combined effect of geometry and finite thickness of the specimen on elastic–plastic crack tip stress field has been explored. To the best of our knowledge, such an attempt in the published literature has not been made yet. For the qualitative assessment of the results some of the field parameters have been compared to the available experimental results of K, gives a fair estimate of the crack opening stress near the crack front at a distance of order 10⁻² in. On the basis of this analysis, the Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics approach has been adopted in analyzing the fatigue crack extension experiments performed in the disk (Part II).     

Fatigue crack extension behaviour in porous plasma spray 80%Ni---20%Cr material: The influence of R-ratio

This paper attempts to describe the fatigue crack growth response of a plasma spray 80%---20%Cr material, utilised in the corrosion protection of engineering components, whose microstructure consisted of (i) an austenitic matrix, (ii) a secondary dispersion of a chromite non-metallic inclusion phase and (iii) regions of closed and connected porosity.It was demonstrated that little or no effect of R-ratio was observed on the threshold stress intensity range ΔK_th, which was attributed to both the materials fine to intermediate grain size and probable plain stress testing conditions which significantly decrease crack closure effects. At intermediate fatigue crack growth rates high ratio results were an order of magnitude faster than the low R-ratio data. This was the result of the high R-ratio case seeking out more regions of porosity which then increased the local ΔK on the remaining ligaments leading to accelerated crack growth rates.Porosity was shown to significantly decrease the value of ΔK_th and the extent of porosity observed on fatigue fracture surfaces increased with ΔK level and was well in excess of that of 5% recorded by metallography. Hence the growing fatigue crack preferentially sought out regions of porosity as they represented locations of low fracture energy.     

Effect of humidity and R-ratio on the near threshold fatigue crack growth of two granular bainitic microstructures

The present report has shown that in ferrite-martensite microstructures, the relative humidity of an air environment can affect both the near threshold fatigue crack growth behaviour and the intermediate Stage II fatigue characteristics. The magnitude of the threshold stress intensity, ΔK_th, was not affected by relative humidity and the significant effect of R-ratio on ΔK_th was suitably demonstrated.The relative humidity affected the nature of both the subcritical static failure mode and the final stage III static failure mode. A direct relationship between the degree of fatigue crack growth enhancement and the extent of transgranular cleavage was evidenced.