Structural failures precipitated by weld discontinuities

A literature review was conducted to assess the effects of weld defects upon the failure of welded structures. This effort was focussed on storage tank failures with emphasis on those fabricated for cryogenic liquid containment in order to assess the significance of past storage tank failures relative to the 9% nickel steel storage tanks currently in service. Consideration of past failures can be instructive for insuring the integrity of these vessels.Along with other documented failures, three cryogenic storage tank failures are documented herein. One of these was a liquefied natural gas (LNG) tank, the other two were designed to store liquid ethylene. Although details of design differed slightly, the overall design was the ‘tank within a tank’ concept. In each of the three failures detailed in this review, a breach of the outer tank integrity resulted when cryogenic liquid came in contact with the outer tank wall. This can be attributed to the fact that the outer steel wall was brittle at service temperatures.In addition to the above failures, this review has revealed a pattern of failures in pressure vessels resulting from faulty welds (usually fillet welds) associated with nozzle attachments and branch connections. These are undoubtedly areas of concern in cryogenic storage tanks along with the ones delineated more fully in this review.     

Experimental and numerical studies of guided wave damage detection in bars with structural discontinuities

This paper deals with longitudinal and flexural wave propagations in steel bars with structural discontinuities. Numerical simulations were performed using the spectral element method and compared with experimental studies conducted on an intact bar as well as on bars with an additional mass, a notch and a grooved weld. To model longitudinal wave propagation including lateral deformations, special rod spectral elements in time domain (based on Love and Mindlin–Herrmann theories) were formulated. The effect of the three discontinuities on wave propagation is discussed, and the applicability of longitudinal and flexural waves to non-destructive damage detection is investigated.     

Thermal-stress induced phenomena in two-component material： part I

The paper deals with analytical fracture mechanics to consider elastic thermal stresses acting in an isotropic multi-particle-matrix system. The multi-particle-matrix system consists of periodically distributed spherical particles in an infinite matrix. The thermal stresses originate during a cooling process as a consequence of the difference αm - αp in thermal expansion coefficients between the matrix and the particle, αm and αp, respectively. The multi-particle-matrix system thus represents a model system applicable to a real two-component material of a precipitation-matrix type. The infinite matrix is imaginarily divided into identical cubic cells. Each of the cubic cells with the dimension d contains a central spherical particle with the radius R, where d thus corresponds to inter-particle distance. The parameters R, d along with the particle volume fraction v = v（R, d） as a function of R, d represent microstructural characteristics of a twocomponent material. The thermal stresses are investigated within the cubic cell, and accordingly are functions of the microstructural characteristics. The analytical fracture mechanics includes an analytical analysis of the crack initiation and consequently the crack propagation both considered for the spherical particle （q = p） and the cell matrix （q = m）. The analytical analysis is based on the determination of the curve integral Wcq of the thermal-stress induced elastic energy density Wq. The crack initiation is represented by the determination of the critical particle radius Rqc = Rqc（V）. Formulae for Rqc are valid for any two-component mate- rial of a precipitate-matrix type. The crack propagation for R 〉 Rqc is represented by the determination of the function fq describing a shape of the crack in a plane perpendicular     

Stress concentration around several holes in structural elements

Conclusions Our analysis of specific numerical results for nonclassical problems has thus established two conclusions.1. The stresses do not increase monotonically as the holes are brought closer together (in the case of problems for shells under static loading and for plates under dynamic loading).2. For several holes in the case of problems for plates under dynamic loading, the maxima of the stress concentration factors can occur in the interior of the main region rather than at the edges of the holes, depending on the frequency and form of the applied load.These conclusions do not apply to classical problems (the planar problem under static loading) and must therefore be taken into account when stress concentrations are created.Because of space limitations, the concluding part of this article was not included in the EPMESC'92 Conference Proceedings and is therefore published here in its entirety.This is the complete text of a paper that was presented by the author at the EPMESC'92 International Conference in Talien, China, June 30-August 2, 1992, but was not published in its entirely in the Conference Proceedings.S. P. Timoshenko Institute of Mechanics, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev. Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 30, No. 4, pp. 6–13, April, 1994.     

Thermal-stress induced phenomena in two-component material:Part Ⅱ

The paper deals with analytical models of the elastic energy gradient Wsq representing an energy barrier. The energy barrier is a surface integral of the elastic energy density Wq. The elastic energy density is induced by thermal stresses acting in an isotropic spherical particle （q = p） with the radius R and in a cubic cell of an isotropic matrix （q = m）. The spherical particle and the matrix are components of a multi-particle-matrix system representing a model system applicable to a real two-component material of a precipitation-matrix type. The multi-particle-matrix system thus consists of periodically distributed isotropic spherical particles and an isotropic infinite matrix. The infinite matrix is imaginarily divided into identical cubic cells with a central spherical particle in each of the cubic cells. The dimension d of the cubic cell then corresponds to an inter-particle distance. The parameters R, d along with the particle volume fraction v = v（R, d） as a function of R, d represent micro- structural characteristics of a real two-component material. The thermal stresses are investigated within the cubic cell, and accordingly are functions of the microstructural charac- teristics. The thermal stresses originate during a cooling pro- cess as a consequence of the difference am - ap in thermal expansion coefficients between the matrix and the particle, am and ap, respectively. The energy barrier Wsq is used for the determination of the thermal-stress induced strengthening aq. The strengthening represents resistance against com- pressive or tensile mechanical loading for am - ap 〉 0 or am - ap 〈 0. respectively.     

封装光纤线圈的胶粘剂对光纤产生的热应力影响

分析了外加应力对光纤消光比的影响，对封装后的光纤线圈建立了简化的力学模型。根据弹性力学原理，利用有限元分析方法对其进行热应力分析，结果表明通过减小胶粘剂的热变形量可以减小对光纤的热应力影响。此外还进行了实验验证，所得实验结果与理论分析基本符合。     

Stress concentration around a spheroidal crack caused by a harmonic wave incident at an arbitrary angle

A method is proposed to study the stress concentration around a shallow spheroidal crack in an infinite elastic body. The stress concentration is due to the diffraction of a low-frequency plane longitudinal wave by the crack. The direction of wave propagation is established in which the combined concentration of mode I and mode II stresses is maximum __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 42, No. 1, pp. 70–77, January 2006.     

On interfacial discontinuities in elastic composites

The paper contains a succinct analysis of interfacial discontinuities in anisotropic elastic solids. The results are combined with known results on the ellipsoidal inclusion problem to provide some general formulae for the determination of stress (and strain) concentration factors. Some explicit results are given for cavities in an infinite matrix under arbitrary uniform loading at infinity.     

Sonic discontinuities in a relaxing gas

Following Elcrat [1] the phenomena associated with the sonic discontinuities in non-equilibrium gasdynamics have been studied here. The sonic wave in non-equilibrium gaseous medium propagates with the frozen speed of sound. The magnitude of discontinuities of the first derivatives of flow quantities in the unsteady flow of relaxing gas are shown to satisfy Riccatti equations along the orthogonal trajectories of surface S(t). In order to integrate them in full generality, they are transformed to an equation along the bicharacteristic curve in the characteristic manifold S(t). These equations have been solved completely. The criteria for decay or blow up of sonic discontinuities are given and the particular cases of plane and spherical waves existing in an ideal dissociative gasdynamics have been discussed. In the case of planewave for uniform propagation, it is shown that the dissociating character of the gas is to decrease the critical time. Other cases of shock formation have been studied in detail.     

Weak discontinuities in a chemically reacting atmosphere

Summary The growth and decay of a weak discontinuity headed by a singular surface of arbitrary shape in three dimensions is investigated in a chemically reacting atmosphere, in the absence of dissipative mechanisms such as viscosity, diffusion and heat conduction. The combined effects of the disequilibrium due to the chemical reaction and a wave front curvature on the propagation of discontinuities have been examined and discussed. It has been observed that the chemical disequilibrium, with its Arrhenius rate dependence, causes the compression wave to steepen more swiftly that it does in an inert atmosphere. The critical values of the initial discontinuity, and time for shock formation, in cases of diverging and converging waves, have been determined.     

热沥青混合料摊铺后基层温度应力瞬态分析

根据传热学原理,利用有限元方法对沥青混合料摊铺后的路面结构瞬态温度场进行数值模拟.在瞬态温度场分析过程中,不仅考虑了热沥青混合料面层对下承层结构的热传导作用,而且也考虑了面层表面与外界环境的热交换,包括:太阳辐射、空气对流换热和路表辐射换热等.将各不同时刻的路面结构温度场作为荷载施加到结构上,计算出半刚性基层结构的瞬态温度应力场.计算结果表明:热沥青混合料摊铺引起的基层最大温度应力明显小于基层的极限强度,不会造成基层的破坏.     

Propagation of discontinuities against a static background

The solution of the ideal gasdynamic equations describing propagation of a shock wave initiated, for example, by the motion of a piston against an inhomogeneous static background is considered. The solution is constructed in the form of Taylor series in a special time variable which is equal to zero on the shock wave. In the case of weak shock waves divergence of the series serves as the constraint for such an approach. Then the solution is constructed by linearizing the equations about the solution with a weak discontinuity. In the case of a given background the last solution can be always found exactly by solving successively a set of transport equations, all these equations are reduced to linear ordinary differential equations. The presentation begins from the one-dimensional solutions with plane waves and ends by discussion of spatial problems.     

Optimization of geometric discontinuities in stress fields

The ideal boundary of a discontinuity is defined as that boundary along which there is no stress concentration. Photoelastically an isochromatic coincides with the ideal boundary. This property is used to develop experimentally ideal boundaries for some cases of technological interest. The concept of ‘coefficient of efficiency’ is introduced to evaluate the degree of optimization. The procedure to idealize boundaries is illustrated for the two cases of the circular tube and of the perforated rectangular plate, with prescribed functional restraints and a particular criterion for failure. An ideal design of the inside boundary of the tube is developed which decreases its maximum stress by 25 percent, at the time it also decreases its weight by 10 percent. The efficiency coefficient is increased from 0.59 to 0.95. Tests with a brittle material show an increase in strength of 20 percent. An ideal design of the boundary of the hole in the plate reduces the maximum stresses by 26 percent and increases the coefficient of efficiency from 0.54 to 0.90.     

Constitutive modeling of discontinuities by means of discrete and continuum approximations and damage models

In this paper the mathematical modeling of discontinuities using the discrete approximation and the continuum approximation with weak discontinuities is presented. First, the kinematics of discontinuities is discussed, then two constitutive models based on the continuum damage mechanics theory are developed. The first model is an isotropic damage model and is used in the discrete approximation. The second model is an anisotropic damage model and is used in the continuum approximation. These models are characterized for weighing the mode of failure in the failure criterion. An energy analysis is proposed to establish the equations that relate the parameters of both constitutive models; the fulfillment of the involved equations guarantee that both models are energetically equivalent. It is concluded that the proposed models are suitable to reproduce the constitutive behavior of discontinuities.