Cumulative damage evaluation of steel using infrared thermography

Following the first damage models proposed by Palmgren and Miner, numerous researchers have focused on the problem of predicting the residual life of a material from its load history. Every component dynamically loaded, particularly over the fatigue limit, shows an increase in temperature. The higher the temperature, the higher the load applied. Therefore, in an undamaged material or mechanical component, it is possible to associate each loading stress over the fatigue limit with a temperature value at the hottest point of the surface during the first phase of the test trough a thermo-mechanical characterization (TMC) map. Using the thermoanalysis of steel specimen data, this paper shows that the energetic effect (as a different temperature increments for equal loading uniaxial stress) can be used to evaluate the cumulative damage caused by previous loading. The tests were performed using C40 steel for which traditional fatigue curves in literature are reported.     

Fracture analysis of concrete using singular fractal functions with lattice beam network and confirmation with acoustic emission study

In the present study singular fractal functions (SFF) were used to generate stress-strain plots for quasi-brittle material like concrete and cement mortar and subsequently stress-strain plot of cement mortar obtained using SFF was used for modeling fracture process in concrete. The fracture surface of concrete is rough and irregular. The fracture surface of concrete is affected by the concrete’s microstructure that is influenced by water cement ratio, grade of cement and type of aggregate [1], [2], [3] and [4]. Also the macrostructural properties such as the size and shape of the specimen, the initial notch length and the rate of loading contribute to the shape of the fracture surface of concrete. It is known that concrete is a heterogeneous and quasi-brittle material containing micro-defects and its mechanical properties strongly relate to the presence of micro-pores and micro-cracks in concrete [1], [2], [3] and [4]. The damage in concrete is believed to be mainly due to initiation and development of micro-defects with irregularity and fractal characteristics. However, repeated observations at various magnifications also reveal a variety of additional structures that fall between the ‘micro’ and the ‘macro’ and have not yet been described satisfactorily in a systematic manner [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [15], [16] and [17]. The concept of singular fractal functions by Mosolov was used to generate stress-strain plot of cement concrete, cement mortar and subsequently the stress-strain plot of cement mortar was used in two-dimensional lattice model [28]. A two-dimensional lattice model was used to study concrete fracture by considering softening of matrix (cement mortar). The results obtained from simulations with lattice model show softening behavior of concrete and fairly agrees with the experimental results. The number of fractured elements are compared with the acoustic emission (AE) hits. The trend in the cumulative fractured beam elements in the lattice fracture simulation reasonably reflected the trend in the recorded AE measurements. In other words, the pattern in which AE hits were distributed around the notch has the same trend as that of the fractured elements around the notch which is in support of lattice model.     

Acoustic emission monitoring of crack propagation in additively manufactured and conventional titanium components

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a novel and innovative production technology that can produce complex and lightweight engineering products. In AM components, as in all engineering materials, fatigue is considered as one of the principle causes of unexpected failure. In order to detect, localise and characterise cracks in various material components and metals, acoustic emission (AE) is used as a non-destructive monitoring technique. One of the main advantages of AE is that it can be also used for dynamic damage characterisation and specifically for crack propagation monitoring. In this research, we use AE to monitor the fatigue crack growth behaviour of Ti6Al4V components under four-point bending. The samples were produced by means of AM as well as conventional material. Notched and unnotched specimens were investigated with respect to the crack severity and crack detection using AE. The main AE signal parameters –such as cumulative events, hits, duration, average frequency and rise time– were evaluated and indicate sensitivity to damage propagation in order to lead to a warning against the final fracture occurrence. This is the first time that AE is applied in AM components under fatigue.     

Use of equivalent body forces for acoustic emission from a crack in a plate

A method to determine acoustic emission of surface waves from a crack near the free edge of a plate, is presented, in terms of the function f(t), which defines the time dependence of the crack opening process, the crack opening volume per unit thickness of the plate, and the elastic constants of the plate. The determination of the time-varying displacement is based on the use of equivalent body forces, which are shown to be two double forces. The acoustic emission of the crack, or the equivalent radiation from the double forces, has been obtained by a novel use of the elastodynamic reciprocity theorem. It is of interest that the normal surface-wave displacement at a position x₀ of the free edge comes out as depending on df/dt evaluated at x₀ for t > x₀/c_R, where c_R is the velocity of surface waves on the free edge.     

A criterion for high-cycle fatigue life and fatigue limit prediction in biaxial loading conditions

This paper presents a criterion for high-cycle fatigue life and fatigue strength estimation under periodic proportional and non-proportional cyclic loading. The criterion is based on the mean and maximum values of the second invariant of the stress deviator. Important elements of the criterion are: function of the non-proportionality of fatigue loading and the materials parameter that expresses the materials sensitivity to non-proportional loading. The methods for the materials parameters determination uses three S–N curves: tension–compression, torsion, and any non-proportional loading proposed. The criterion has been verified using experimental data, and the results are included in the paper. These results should be considered as promising. The paper also includes a proposal for multiaxial fatigue models classification due to the approach for the nonproportionality of loading.     

An experimental method for evaluating the heat transfer coefficient of liquid-cooled short pin fins using infrared thermography

The aim of this research is to evaluate the convective heat transfer coefficient of liquid cooled short pin fins by means of the infrared thermography. An experimental apparatus was set-up to analyze single, in-line and staggered array configurations of short pin fins. In this work the attention is focused on single pins having different shapes: circular, square, triangular and rhomboidal. The infrared thermography is used to indirectly measure the lateral pin temperature by observing the upper surface temperature of radially heated pins; these are placed in a test section chamber equipped with a Zinc Selenide infrared window. Flow visualizations by means of ink tracers are also carried out to relate the thermal behavior with the flow field. Regressions by the Zukauskas correlation were performed for each shape and new coefficients were carried out; a comparison among the different pin geometries underlines a better thermal exchange for the triangular and rhomboidal pins.     

Static and fatigue behaviour of glass-fibre-reinforced polypropylene composites

This paper is concerned with fatigue of polypropylene/glass-fibre thermoplastic composites produced from a bi-directional woven cloth mixture of E glass fibres and polypropylene fibres. The latter becomes the matrix after the application of heat and pressure. This composite was manufactured with a fibre volume fraction V_f of 0.338. The effect of layer design on the static and fatigue performance was investigated. The S–N curves, the rise in the temperature of the specimens during the tests and the loss of stiffness, were obtained and discussed. The loss of stiffness was related to the rise of temperature and stress release observed in the material. The effect of load rate on the static properties was also studied and discussed accordingly.     

Critical defect size distributions in concrete structures detected by the acoustic emission technique

Extensive research and studies on concrete fracture and failure have shown that concrete should be viewed as a quasi-brittle material having a size-dependent behavior. Numerous experimental techniques have been employed to evaluate fracture processes, and a number of modeling approaches have been developed to predict fracture behavior. A non-destructive method based on the Acoustic Emission (AE) technique has proved to be highly effective, especially to assess and measure the damage phenomena taking place inside a structure subjected to mechanical loading. In this paper, comparing AE frequency-magnitude statistics in solids subjected to damage processes with defect size distributions for disordered materials, critical parameters defining instability conditions for monitored structures are found. In addition, an experimental investigation conducted on concrete and RC structures by means of the AE technique is described. Experimental results confirm the described theories.     

Multi-scale morphology analysis of acoustic emission signal and quantitative diagnosis for bearing fault

Monitoring of potential bearing faults in operation is of critical importance to safe operation of high speed trains. One of the major challenges is how to differentiate relevant signals to operational conditions of bearings from noises emitted from the surrounding environment. In this work, we report a procedure for analyzing acoustic emission signals collected from rolling bearings for diagnosis of bearing health conditions by examining their morphological pattern spectrum (MPS) through a multi-scale morphology analysis procedure. The results show that acoustic emission signals resulted from a given type of bearing faults share rather similar MPS curves. Further examinations in terms of sample entropy and Lempel-Ziv complexity of MPS curves suggest that these two parameters can be utilized to determine damage modes.     

The application of Shuffled Frog Leaping Algorithm to Wavelet Neural Networks for acoustic emission source location

When using acoustic emission to locate the friction fault source of rotating machinery, the effects of strong noise and waveform distortion make accurate locating difficult. Applying neural network for acoustic emission source location could be helpful. In the BP Wavelet Neural Network, BP is a local search algorithm, which falls into local minimum easily. The probability of successful search is low. We used Shuffled Frog Leaping Algorithm (SFLA) to optimize the parameters of the Wavelet Neural Network, and the optimized Wavelet Neural Network to locate the source. After having performed the experiments of friction acoustic emission's source location on the rotor friction test machine, the results show that the calculation of SFLA is simple and effective, and that locating is accurate with proper structure of the network and input parameters.     

Generalized fatigue constant life curve and two-dimensional probability distribution of fatigue limit

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Loading rate and confining pressure effect on dilatancy,acoustic emission,and failure characteristics of fissured rock with two pre-existing flaws

Investigating the dilatancy, acoustic emission and failure characteristics of fissured rock are significant to ensure their geotechnical stability. In this paper, the uniaxial and triaxial compression experiments with AE monitoring under different loading rates were carried out on fissured rock specimens with the same geometrical distribution of two pre-existing flaws. The dilatancy and AE activity of these specimens were discussed, and the effects of the confining pressure and loading rate on the mechanical parameters and failure characteristics were analyzed. The results show that the exponential strength criterion is more suitable than the Mohr–Coulomb strength criterion to characterize the strength characteristics of fissured rock. The crack evolution and failure characteristics of fissured rock specimens are more complicated than those of intact rock specimens. The failure characteristics of the fissured rock follow the tensile shear coalescence model, crack branching occurs with increasing the loading rate, and the multi-section coalescence model is verified with increasing the confining pressure. The phenomena of stress drop and yield platform usually occur after the dilatancy onset, the specimen does not fail instantaneously, and the propagation and coalescence of cracks cause a sharp increase in the AE signals, circumferential strain, and volumetric strain.     

Acoustic emission monitoring of carbon-fiber-reinforced-polymer bridge stay cables in large-scale testing

This paper presents acoustic emission (AE) monitoring of damage initiation and progression in carbon-fiber-reinforced-polymer (CFRP) stay cables subject to largescale laboratory tests. The research is part of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), larger project on the design and construction of a new cable-stayed bridge made of advanced composites. No previous use of AE on large-size CFRP stay cables appears in the literature. Three types of cables of potential use in the UCSD composite bridge were tested at lengths ranging from 5500 mm to 5870 mm. The AE events were monitored to detect damage and provide a qualitative correlation with the type of structural failure. The tests allowed a comparative characterization of the failure behavior of the three types of cables under investigation. An additional study was performed to characterize acoustic attenuation and dispersion phenomena that are relevant to AE testing of largescale CFRP cables. It is shown that despite their large size, these cables are excellent acoustic wave guides exhibiting very low attenuation. Finally, this study shows promising results for an effective use of in situ AE for health monitoring of these structural components in service.     

Affected depth approach to determine the fatigue strength of materials containing surface defects

This paper explains a novel methodology to determine the High Cycle Fatigue (HCF) reliability of materials with defects. A defect was represented by a semi-spherical void situated at a specimen surface subjected to periodic loading. Then, the Finite Element (FE) method was carried out to find out the stress distribution near the defects for diverse sizes and diverse loadings. The Crossland stress change is studied and interpolated by a mathematical function depending on fatigue limits, defect radius, and profundity from the defect tip. The HCF strength of defect material is computed by the “stress strength” approach via the Monte Carlo sampling. This approach leads to determine Kitagawa–Takahashi diagrams, for a definite reliability, of materials with defects. The calculated HCF reliabilities agree well with fatigue tests. Obtaining Kitagawa–Takahashi diagrams with reliability level permits the engineer to be engaged in an endurance problem to compute the defective fatigue lives in safe and efficient process. As a final point, we discuss the sensitivity effects of defect size, defect free fatigue limits, affected depth, and load amplitude to envisage the fatigue reliability of materials with defects.     

Discrete element modeling of acoustic emission in rock fracture

The acoustic emission (AE) features in rock fracture are simulated numerically with discrete element model (DEM). The specimen is constructed by using spherical particles bonded via the parallel bond model. As a result of the heterogeneity in rock specimen, the failure criterion of bonded particle is coupled by the shear and tensile strengths, which follow a normal probability distribution. The Kaiser effect is simulated in the fracture process, for a cubic rock specimen under uniaxial compression with a constant rate. The AE number is estimated with breakages of bonded particles using a pair of parameters, in the temporal and spatial scale, respectively. It is found that the AE numbers and the elastic energy release curves coincide. The range for the Kaiser effect from the AE number and the elastic energy release are the same. Furthermore, the frequency-magnitude relation of the AE number shows that the value of B determined with DEM is consistent with the experimental data.     

Acoustic emission assessment of interface cracking in thermal barrier coatings

In this paper, acoustic emission (AE) and digital image correlation methods were applied to monitor interface cracking in thermal barrier coatings under compression. The interface failure process can be identified via its AE features, including buckling, delamination incubation and spallation. According to the Fourier transformation of AE signals, there are four different failure modes: surface vertical cracks, opening and sliding interface cracks, and substrate deformation. The characteristic frequency of AE signals from surface vertical cracks is 0.21 MHz, whilst that of the two types of interface cracks are 0.43 and 0.29 MHz, respectively. The energy released of the two types of interface cracks are 0.43 and 0.29 MHz, respectively. Based on the energy released from cracking and the AE signals, a relationship is established between the interface crack length and AE parameters, which is in good agreement with experimental results.     

On the limit and applicability of dynamic homogenization

Recent years have seen considerable research success in the field of dynamic homogenization which seeks to define frequency dependent effective properties for heterogeneous composites for the purpose of studying wave propagation. There is an approximation involved in replacing a heterogeneous composite with its homogenized equivalent. In this paper we propose a quantification to this approximation. We study the problem of reflection at the interface of a layered periodic composite and its dynamic homogenized equivalent. It is shown that if the homogenized parameters are to appropriately represent the layered composite in a finite setting and at a given frequency, then reflection at this special interface must be close to zero at that frequency. We show that a comprehensive homogenization scheme proposed in an earlier paper results in negligible reflection in the low frequency regime, thereby suggesting its applicability in a finite composite setting. In this paper we explicitly study a 2-phase composite and a 3-phase composite which exhibits negative effective properties over its second branch. We show that based upon the reflected energy profile of the two cases, there exist good arguments for considering the second branch of a 3-phase composite a true negative branch with negative group velocity. Through arguments of calculated reflected energy we note that infinite-domain homogenization is much more applicable to finite cases of the 3-phase composite than it is to the 2-phase composite. In fact, the applicability of dynamic homogenization extends to most of the first branch (negligible reflection) for the 3-phase composite. This is in contrast with a periodic composite without local resonance where the approximation of homogenization worsens with increasing frequency over the first branch and is demonstrably bad on the second branch. We also study the effect of the interface location on the applicability of homogenization. The results open intriguing questions regarding the effects of replacing a semi-infinite periodic composite with its Bloch-wave (infinite domain) dynamic properties on such phenomenon as negative refraction.     

Theoretical model of acoustic emission under mechanical loading of rocks in the maximum compaction region

A theoretical model of changes in acoustic emission activity in a geomaterial under continuous or stepwise mechanical loading is justified. Based on this model, the experimentally found laws of emission in the region of the maximum compaction of rock samples with different rates of mechanical loading of these samples are analyzed. __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 47, No. 4, pp. 145–152, July–August, 2006.     

A novel method for investigation of acoustic and elastic wave phenomena using numerical experiments

The emergence of new types of composite materials, the depletion of existing hydrocarbon deposits, and the increase in the speed of trains require the development of new research methods based on wave scattering. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the laws of wave scattering in inhomogeneous media. We propose a method that combines the advantages of a numerical simulation with an analytical study of the boundary value problem of elastic and acoustic wave equations. In this letter we present the results of the study using the proposed method: the formation of a response from a shear wave in an acoustic medium and the formation of shear waves when a vertically incident longitudinal wave is scattered by a vertical gas-filled fracture. We have obtained a number of analytical expressions characterising the scattering of these wave types.     

Formal solutions of partial differential equations and the projective limit

Based on stratification theory, the existence theorems of formal solutions of partial differential equation (PDE) are given . And the relationship between formal solutions and protective limit of Ehresmann chain is presented .