Resonant fatigue testing of riveted joints

A special test facility was constructed for evaluating the fatigue strength of turbine-blade components under steady pullout and vibratory bending loadings. The use of mechanical resonance for these applications was particularly attractive in that failure in inaccessible areas could be detected by the change in natural frequency of the specimen. The sensitivity of the method allowed determination of a fatigue crack as early in life as possible. The application of this facility to the determination of the fatigue strength of a type of riveted connection employed on certain types of blades is described in this paper. A steady load representing the centrifugal force was applied hydraulically through a long flexible pullrod which in combination with the test specimen was excited laterally at its resonant frequency by an electromagnetic shaker. An accelerometer provided closed-loop control on both vibration amplitude and resonant frequency through special circuitry. Fatigue-strength reduction factors at 10⁷ cycles were determined for three types of riveted test specimens in air at room temperature. These values exceeded the elastic stress-concentration factors estimated from earlier photoelastic tests for all three cases.     

含腐蚀缺陷的管道静力性能试验测试研究

为研究腐蚀缺陷对管道承载力的影响,本文分别进行了含腐蚀缺陷管道在轴压载荷、弯曲载荷以及轴压和弯曲复合载荷作用下的静力失效过程测试。通过不同载荷作用下管道的荷载-位移曲线以及荷载-应变曲线来分析管道的失效模式和失效机理;通过有限元分析结果与试验测试结果验证其准确性。结果表明:腐蚀缺陷使管道在三种不同荷载作用下的极限承载力均有所下降;针对文中所研究的管道及其腐蚀缺陷,在轴压载荷作用下管道承载力下降了18.4%,在弯曲载荷作用下管道承载力下降了20.96%,在轴压和弯曲复合载荷作用下管道承载力下降了13.3%;管道中腐蚀缺陷位置的管壁厚度减小,该位置应变发展迅速,首先进入塑性屈服状态,最终导致该腐蚀位置发生弹塑性屈曲失效。     

Biaxial testing of composite tubes

The development of a tubular test specimen for the characterization of advanced composite-material lamina and laminate mechanical properties is presented. The specimen design and supporting analyses are given for a practical tubular specimen that minimizes end effects. Test results for simplified loading conditions are shown to be in good agreement with values obtained in other tests. Failure strains in laminates are higher than those obtained in comparable flat-coupon tests. The results obtained indicate that the specimen and apparatus are useful for obtaining response properties and failure values under general in-plane loading.     

带接头在役混凝土电杆受力性能试验研究

为了揭示在役混凝土电杆连接接头的破坏机理和承载性能,进行了6根两类不同杆长、跨中带钢圈接头的混凝土电杆的抗弯承载力试验,通过试验观察了各试件的受力全过程和破坏形态,获取了弯矩-挠度曲线、裂缝宽度-弯矩曲线、刚度退化规律曲线以及极限弯矩等重要指标.对比分析了两种杆长试件的承载力和刚度变化规律,并通过试验拟合,提出了相关刚度退化规律公式.研究结果表明,试件所具有的破坏形态大多为混凝土拉裂、接头钢圈不屈服,破坏具有明显的脆性;截面的平均应变符合平截面假定;杆长较短试件的极限承载力显著大于较长杆长的试件;裂缝宽度-弯矩曲线大致经历了4个阶段:即未开裂阶段、逐渐增长阶段、稳定发展阶段、快速开裂阶段;杆长较短试件的初始弹性刚度以及弹塑性刚度都比较长杆长试件的大;电杆连接接头的相对刚域范围对杆身受力性能具有极大的影响.     

DETERMINATION OF FRACTURE TOUGHNESS OF BRITTLE MATERIALS BY INDENTATION

Fracture toughness is one of the crucial mechanical properties of brittle materials such as glasses and ceramics which demonstrate catastrophic failure modes. Conventional standardized testing methods adopted for fracture toughness determination require large specimens to satisfy the plane strain condition. As for small specimens, indentation is a popular, sometimes exclusive testing mode to determine fracture toughness for it can be performed on a small flat area of the specimen surface. This review focuses on the development of indentation fracture theories and the representative testing methods. Cracking pattern dependent on indenter geometry and material property plays an important role in modeling, and is the main reason for the diversity of indentation fracture theories and testing methods. Along with the simplicity of specimen requirement is the complexity of modeling and analysis which accounts for the semi-empirical features of indentation fracture tests. Some unresolved issues shaping the gap between indentation fracture tests and standardization are also discussed.     

A thin-sheet, combined tension and bending specimen

Validating stress intensity factor solutions for combined tension and bending is an arduous task because the necessary experimental data are not readily available. Toward this end, a tension and bending test specimen was designed to produce controllable levels of both tension stress and bending stress at the crack location. The specimen was made from 2024-T3 clad aluminum, which is commonly used in aircraft structures. The need for testing multiple specimens of various geometries and stress levels prompted the development of an analytical tool for specimen design. An extention of the Schijve line model, based on simple beam theory, was developed to calculate the stress distributions of tension and bending through the length of the specimen. A comparison of measured static strain levels with those predicted by the model showed the model to be accurate to within 5 percent, confirming its efficacy for specimen design. As expected, for the same remote stress (100 MPa), cracks in the tension and bending specimens grew faster than those in middle-cracked tension specimens.     

The strain-rate effect and the incremental plastic wave in copper

An experimental investigation was conducted to determine the degree of sensitivity of commerically pure copper to strain rate and to note the effect of this sensitivity on the velocity of propagation of shearing strain in copper. Thin-walled cylindrical specimens of copper were loaded in torsion to eliminate the effects of radial inertia. All specimens were annealed and then cold worked in torsion to obtain necessary specimen uniformity. Quasi-static tests were performed on short-length specimens to determine the shearing stress-strain curve of copper at a very low strain rate. The strain-rate sensitivity of copper at low strain rates, from 3×10^?4/sec to 5/sec, was tested by loading short specimens at a very slow continuous rate and then suddenly increasing the strain rate. A quasi-static test was also performed to determine the effect of creep on prestressed copper. Dynamic tests involving strain rates up to 500/sec were performed on long specimens with a torsional impact machine. Specimens were tested under stress-free and prestressed initial conditions. The prestressed specimen was loaded at a slow, continuous rate before impact to avoid the undesirable effects of creep which would have occurred with a static preload. Results from the quasi-static tests showed that copper is noticeably sensitive to strain rate in the low strain-rate regions, but that the sensitivity becomes almost constant as the strain rate is increased. Results from the dynamic tests showed that large strains propagated at speeds which agreed well with speeds predicted by the strain-rate-independent theory of plastic-wave propagation. The lower-level strains in the prestressed specimen, however, propagated at much higher speeds than are predicted by the strain-rate independent. Because radial-inertia effects were not present, this discrepancy in measured and predicted speeds for low-level strains must be due to the strain-rate sensitivity of copper.     

Design and Simulation of a Novel Multi-Axial Fatigue Test Rig

This research covers the design and simulation of a novel experimental concept for multi-axial fatigue analysis of cylindrical specimens. The resulting design allows a combination of bending and torsional stress to test specimens with critical diameters ranging from 5 to 15 mm at test frequencies up to 50 Hz. Furthermore, the amplitude and frequency of both loadcases can be controlled independently. The test rig will be used to study and validate fatigue criteria for synchronous and asynchronous loading conditions and to analyze the effect of size on the fatigue life of metal and plastic components. The test setup consists of a closed mechanical loop. The primary shaft contains the cylindrical test specimen and is modified to impose rotating bending loads. The secondary shaft is adjusted to introduce fluctuating torque in the transmission loop. Both shafts are connected by means of two double link mechanisms to minimize the clearance and the inertia of the system. The time-varying multi-axial stress state in the cylindrical specimen is analyzed as a function of the amplitudes and frequencies of both bending and torsional loadcases. This is verified by a numerical fatigue analysis in MSC-Patran and MSC-Fatigue. Finally, the dynamical behavior of the test system is studied using a 5 DOF torsional mass-spring representation and the Lagrangian method. A more complex model with 20 DOF is implemented in SimDriveLine and solved via Matlab to analyze the kinematical and dynamical properties more accurately. Both studies take the mechanical properties of steel and plastic test specimens of different sizes into account.     

A New Technique for Curved Rod Bending Tests Based on Digital Image Correlation

Background

The study of the deformation of curved rods subjected to bending and its associated stress state is a complex task that has not been treated in depth in the literature, which makes difficult to obtain constitutive models or Finite Element Models (FEM) in which it is necessary to know all the components of the stress and strain tensors.

Objectives

This study focuses on a new calculation methodology to obtain stress and strain tensors of curved rods under bending.

Methods

The stress and strain tensors have been determined based on the theory of continuum mechanics and differential geometry of curves (moving bases), in a general methodology and valid for large strains, curved geometries and variable cross-sections along the specimen. This has been applied to the human rib and, in addition, a new experimental method for bending of curved specimens based on Digital Image Correlation (DIC) is presented.

Results

Both the test method and the proposed calculations applied to the human rib show results according to expectations, allowing to know the rib curvature changes along the test, the stresses and strains along the rib and the components of both stress and strain in all directions, in order to build the stress and strain tensors. In addition, the results of stress, strain and young’s modulus correspond to those of previous literature in tensile testing of human rib cortical bone.

Conclusions

The proposed calculations allow the construction of the strain and stress tensors of a curved specimen subjected to bending, which is of great importance for the development of constitutive models. Moreover, since with this method it is possible to calculate both tensors along the entire length of the specimen and in all directions, it is possible to apply this method in finite element models. Finally, the new test methodology allows to know the stress and strain in curved specimens such as the human rib, from bending tests.

     

Particle flow study on strength and meso-mechanism of Brazilian splitting test for jointed rock mass

A discrete element method （DEM） called particle flow code （PFC2D） was used to construct a model for Brazilian disc splitting test in the present study. Based on the experimental results of intact Brazilian disc of rock-like material, a set of micro-parameters in PFC2D that reflected the macro-mechanical behavior of rock-like materials were obtained. And then PFC2D was used to simulate Brazilian splitting test for jointed rock mass specimens and specimen containing a central straight notch. The effect of joint angle and notch angle on the tensile strength and failure mode of jointed rock specimens was detailed analyzed. In order to reveal the meso-mechanical mechanism of crack coalescence, displacement trend lines were applied to analyze the displacement evolution during the crack initiation and propagation. The investigated conclusions can be described as follows. （1） The tensile strength of jointed rock mass disc specimen is dependent to the joint angle. As the joint angle increases, the tensile strength of jointed rock specimen takes on a nonlinear variance. （2） The tensile strength of jointed rock mass disc specimen containing a central straight notch distributes as a function of both joint angle and notch angle. （3） Three major failure modes, i.e., pure tensile failure, shear failure and mixed tension and shear failure mode are observed in jointed rock mass disc specimens under Brazilian test. （4） The notch angle roles on crack initiation and and joint angle play important propagation characteristics of jointed rock mass disc specimen containing a central straight notch under Brazilian test.     

On a common critical state in localized and diffuse failure modes

Accurately modeling the critical state mechanical behavior of granular material largely relies on a better understanding and characterizing the critical state fabric in different failure modes, i.e. localized and diffuse failure modes. In this paper, a mesoscopic scale is introduced, in which the organization of force-transmission paths (force-chains) and cells encompassed by contacts (meso-loops) can be taken into account. Numerical drained biaxial tests using a discrete element method are performed with different initial void ratios, in order to investigate the critical state fabric on the meso-scale in both localized and diffuse failure modes. According to the displacement and strain fields extracted from tests, the failure mode and failure area of each specimen are determined. Then convergent critical state void ratios are observed in failure area of specimens. Different mechanical features of two kinds of meso-structures (force-chains and meso-loops) are investigated, to clarify whether there exists a convergent meso-structure inside the failure area of granular material, as the signature of critical state. Numerical results support a positive answer. Failure area of both localized and diffuse failure modes therefore exhibits the same fabric in critical state. Hence, these two failure modes prove to be homological with respect to the concept of the critical state.     

不同尺寸砂岩动态力学性质和应力平衡性的试验研究

采用大直径分离式霍普金森压杆系统获得的不同尺寸试样的实验冲击动态力学参数有差异,因此在直径100 mm压杆上进行了3种直径（50、75和100 mm）和5种长径比（0.4、0.5、0.6、0.8和1.0）的砂岩试样冲击试验,分析了不同尺寸试样应力-应变曲线和应变率曲线随尺寸的变化,提出了用于比较波形对齐重合度的波形叠加系数,并与应力平衡因子共同构建了动态应力平衡性研究体系,由此确定大直径霍普金森压杆试验的试样建议尺寸。同时,利用高速摄影机监测试样的动态破坏状况。结果表明:当长径比相同时,直径75与100 mm岩石试样的动态抗压强度测试值相近,直径50 mm试样具有更明显的长度效应;随着试样直径的增大,应变率曲线从单峰变为双峰;小尺寸试样更易发生轴向劈裂破坏,大尺寸试样受内部应力波叠加影响产生了较大的拉应力,易发生层裂拉伸和轴向劈裂的复合型破坏;对直径75 mm且长径比0.3~0.4的试样,波形对齐后重合度较高,在起始破坏前拥有充足的应力平衡时间,应变率加载效果较好。获得了砂岩试样冲击压缩试验的尺寸效应,可为大直径岩石试样的尺寸选择提供参考。     

基于ANN-GA协同寻优的动态拉伸试样尺寸优化方法

材料动态拉伸力学性能测试中,动态拉伸试样的几何尺寸对测试结果的准确性与有效性有着较大影响。为对动态拉伸试样的结构进行优化设计,以使其在动态拉伸过程中更好地满足一维应力与变形均匀等基本假设。首先,建立了量化的试样测量准确度指标,即应力平衡达到时间、变形均匀度、非轴向应力相对水平、过渡段相对变形。然后,对试样结构参数进行正交试验设计,通过数值模拟的方法得到了关于试样尺寸与测量准确度指标的正交试验数据库,并对正交试验数据库进行多目标正交试验矩阵分析,得到了试样结构参数对各测量准确度指标影响的主次顺序和规律。最后,以正交试验数据库为训练集,采用人工神经网络（artificial neural network, ANN）协同遗传算法（genetic algorithm, GA）的全局寻优方法对试样的结构尺寸进行优化设计,得到了试样的最优结构尺寸,并对最优尺寸的有效性进行了验证。结果表明,优化后的试样结构在材料动态拉伸力学性能测试精度上的表现明显得以提升。因此,采用ANN-GA协同优化的方法对动态拉伸试样的结构进行优化具有可行性和有效性。     

Finite-element analysis of creep and plasticity tensile-test specimens

Traditionally, mechanical properties as determined from sensile-test specimens are assumed to be truly uniaxial and are used directly in finite-element codes for design purposes. In this paper, the stress and strain distributions in two test geometries, an hourglass specimen and a cylindrical specimen, are critically examined by means of the nonlinear finite-element code CREEP-PLAST. Since some triaxiality of the stress state is inevitable in any region with a transition, it is difficult to have a truly uniaxial test specimen. The determination of the internal stress and strain distributions makes it possible to assess the accuracy of the mechanical properties as indicated by tests on a particular specimen. Furthermore, the data given here guide the choice between the hourglass and the cylindrical specimen for applications in creep, plasticity and fatigue. Extensometry techniques permit measurements to be made only on the surface of the specimen. Thus, trouble can be caused by the nonuniform strain state present in both geometries. With the finite-element analysis, the strain field within the specimens is correlated to that on the surface; extensometry correction factors are given for selected cases.     

混凝土拉伸断裂的细观数值分析

根据混凝土试件拉伸和三点弯曲的物理模型,用梁-颗粒模型BPM 2D(B eam-Particle M ode l)模拟了混凝土拉伸和三点弯曲试件微裂纹的萌生、扩展直至试件宏观破坏的全过程。在梁-颗粒模型中用三种类型梁单元形成混凝土细观数值模型,每种类型梁单元的力学性质均按韦伯(W e ibu ll)分布随机赋值以模拟混凝土细观结构的非均匀性。数值模拟结果给出了混凝土拉伸应力-应变曲线和三点弯曲载荷-位移曲线,以及混凝土试件破坏过程最大应力分布图和裂纹扩展图。数值模拟结果显示混凝土破坏过程实际上就是微裂纹萌生、扩展、贯通,直到宏观裂纹产生导致混凝土失稳断裂的过程。通过对数值模拟结果的分析,揭示出混凝土在拉伸条件下裂纹尖端的拉应力集中是裂纹扩展的动力,混凝土组成材料力学性质的非均匀性是造成裂纹扩展路径曲折的重要原因。     

A study of microbend test by strain gradient plasticity

Metallic materials display strong size effect when the characteristic length associated with plastic deformation is on the order of microns. This size effect cannot be explained by classical plasticity theories since their constitutive relations do not have an intrinsic material length. Strain gradient plasticity has been developed to extend continuum plasticity to the micron or submicron regime. One major issue in strain gradient plasticity is the determination of the intrinsic material length that scales with strain gradients, and several microbend test specimens have been designed for this purpose. We have studied different microbend test specimens using the theory of strain gradient plasticity. The pure bending specimen, cantilever beam, and the microbend test specimen developed by Stolken and Evans (Stolken, J.S., Evans, A.G., 1998. A microbend test method for measuring the plasticity length scale Acta Mater. 46, 5109–5115) are found suitable for the determination of intrinsic material length in strain gradient plasticity. However, the double cantilever beam (both ends clamped) is unsuitable since its deformation is dominated by axial stretching. The strain gradient effects significantly increase the bending stiffness of a microbend test specimen. The deflection of a 10-μm thick beam is only a few percent of that estimated by classical plasticity.     

Rate sensitivity of compressive strength of columnar-grained ice

Methods of selecting and preparing specimens and details of test procedures, including those for microstructural examination, are described for the investigation of uniaxial compressive strength of columnar-grained ice. It is shown that specimen strain rates are not constant for constant cross-head-displacement rate and that consequently the results are not representative of the constant strain-rate condition. Analysis shows that constant cross-head-displacement tests are more closely representative of the constant stress-rate condition. The paper also discusses failure strains, failure times, mode of failure and possible dependence of strength results on stiffness of the test system.     

Characterization of mechanical properties by indentation tests and FE analysis – validation by application to a weld zone of DP590 steel

In this work, the mechanical properties of the metal active gas (MAG) weld zone and heat affected zone (HAZ) were characterized utilizing the continuous indentation method together with its finite element (FEM) analysis. To verify the measured properties, uni-axial tension and three point bending tests were performed for DP590 welded specimens. For numerical simulations, the isotropic hardening law was assumed along with the non-quadratic anisotropic yield function, Yld2000-2d. As for the failure criterion of the base material and weld zones particularly for the failure evaluation in the uni-axial tension test, Hill’s bifurcation theory and the M–K theory were applied to calculate the forming limit diagrams considering all measured properties including strain-rate sensitivity.     

Experimental evaluation of the Wyoming-modified two-rail shear test method for composite materials

In-plane unidirectional shear properties of carbon/epoxy and glass/epoxy materials were measured using unidirectional and cross-ply specimens utilizing the Wyomingmodified two-rail shear test fixture. Simple test specimens of trapezoidal and rectangular geometries, and specimens with tabs were tested. Various specimen sspect ratios were also considered. Untabbed unidirectional specimens exhibited premature shear failures but cross-ply specimens produced reasonably reliable results with acceptable failure modes. Both bonded tab and integral tab 0° specimens were found to give comparable results. Unidirectional and cross-ply PEEK specimens, and angle-ply and quasi-isotropic AS4/3501-6 specimens, were also tested.     

Tensile Test Machine for Unsymmetrical Materials

A novel solution to overcome the shortcoming of conventional tensile test machines in dealing with unsymmetrical materials and off-axis testing of composites is presented. Conventional testing machines are designed on the basis of subjecting a specimen to axial load to determine the stiffness and strength of the material. For specimens with unsymmetrical cross-section this method is no longer valid due to induced additional bending stresses. To overcome this problem a novel tensile test machine was designed, which allows bending deformation, thus subjecting the specimen to pure tension instead of axial loading. To validate the design, the machine was fabricated and employed for tensile testing of an aluminum specimen with unsymmetrical cross-section. The comparison of test results from a conventional machine and from analytically calculations, based on pure tension, reveals that conventional machine generates significant errors, while the results from new machine are in good agreement. The machine was then used to test a functionally graded beam.