Failure of steel structures: causes and remedies

There are six basic mechanisms of failure: failure due to excessive plastic deformation as the result of static overload or impact, instability, creep, stress corrosion, fatigue and brittle fracture. Conventional design methods almost entirely eliminate the risk from the first two causes, and to a very large extent the risk of failure from creep. Fatigue is the most common cause of failure, and brittle fracture the most spectacular. In the occurrences of failure, joints and in particular the presence of welded joints, frequently play a decisive part owing to: ( a ) the stress concentration they produce, ( b ) the residual stress caused by welding, and ( c ) the metallurgical changes produced by welding. The remedy for avoiding these failures lies in two directions: the wider spread of what is already known mainly through normal educational channels, and an intensification of the research effort in those areas where knowledge is still fragmentary.

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryutaro Fueki ◽  
Koji Takahashi

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to estimate the acceptable defect size amax after needle peening (NP) and predict the fatigue limit improvement through the use of NP for an austenitic stainless steel welded joint containing an artificial semi-circular slit on a weld toe. Design/methodology/approach Residual stress and hardness distribution were measured. Microstructures around the weld toe were observed to clarify the cause for the change in hardness after NP. Finite element method analysis was used to analyze the change in the stress concentration following NP. Fracture mechanics was used to evaluate amax after NP. The fatigue limits before and after NP were predicted by determining amax for several levels of stress amplitude. Findings The tensile residual stress induced at the surface of the weld toe prior to NP changed to a compressive residual stress after NP. The residual stress near the surface layer after NP exceeded the yield stress prior to NP due to the increase in yield stress as a result of work hardening as well as the generation of a deformation-induced martensitic structure. The stress concentration was reduced due to the shape improvement caused by NP. The estimation value of amax after NP and the prediction results of fatigue limits were in good agreement with the fatigue test results. Practical implications The proposed method is useful in improving the reliability of welded joints used in large steel structures, transportation equipments and industrial machines. Originality/value From an engineering perspective, it is essential to estimate amax and the fatigue limit of welded joints with crack-like defects. However, it is unclear as to whether it is possible to predict amax and the effects of NP on the fatigue limit for stainless steel welded joints.


Author(s):  
С.Н. Гущин ◽  
М.С. Поярков

В статье рассмотрены особенности хрупкого разрушения сталей в условиях низких температур. Разрушение стальных конструкций чаще всего начинается от концентраторов напряжения (производственные дефекты, сварные швы и т.д.) В результате понижения температуры влияние этих факторов резко усиливается. В этом случае требуется применение металла, способного к пластической деформации при низких температурах, поскольку хрупкое разрушение по своим последствиям значительно опаснее, чем пластичное. Пластическая деформация осуществляется за счет перемещения дислокаций, которые являются проявлением несовершенства кристаллический решетки. Под влиянием напряжений при отсутствии препятствий дислокации свободно перемещаются в решетке металла. Понижение температуры приводит к тому, что возрастающий предел текучести достигает значений хрупкой прочности. Существенное влияние на хладостойкость стали оказывают примеси. Влияние примесей связано в первую очередь с загрязнением границ зерен сплавов и уменьшением сил сцепления на плоскостях спайности. Кроме этого, границы зерен характеризуются значительными нарушениями кристаллического строения и являются участками скопления дефектов структуры и включений. The article deals with the features of brittle fracture of steels at low temperatures. The destruction of steel structures most often begins from stress concentrators (manufacturing defects, welds, etc.) As a result of a decrease in temperature, the influence of these factors increases dramatically. In this case, the use of a metal capable of plastic deformation at low temperatures is required, since brittle destruction is much more dangerous in its consequences than plastic. Plastic deformation is carried out due to the displacement of dislocations, which are a manifestation of the imperfection of the crystal lattice. Under the influence of stresses in the absence of obstacles, dislocations move freely in the metal lattice. A decrease in temperature leads to the fact that the increasing yield strength reaches the values of brittle strength. Impurities have a significant effect on the cold resistance of steel. The influence of impurities is primarily associated with contamination of the grain boundaries of alloys and a decrease in the adhesion forces on the cleavage planes. In addition, the grain boundaries are characterized by significant violations of the crystal structure and are areas of accumulation of structural defects and inclusions.


2007 ◽  
Vol 345-346 ◽  
pp. 1469-1472
Author(s):  
Gab Chul Jang ◽  
Kyong Ho Chang ◽  
Chin Hyung Lee

During manufacturing the welded joint of steel structures, residual stress is produced and weld metal is used inevitably. And residual stress and weld metal influence on the static and dynamic mechanical behavior of steel structures. Therefore, to predict the mechanical behavior of steel pile with a welded joint during static and dynamic deformation, the research on the influence of the welded joints on the static and dynamic behavior of steel pile is clarified. In this paper, the residual stress distribution in a welded joint of steel piles was investigated by using three-dimensional welding analysis. The static and dynamic mechanical behavior of steel piles with a welded joint is investigated by three-dimensional elastic-plastic finite element analysis using a proposed dynamic hysteresis model. Numerical analyses of the steel pile with a welded joint were compared to that without a welded joint with respect to load carrying capacity and residual stress distribution. The influence of the welded joint on the mechanical behavior of steel piles during static and dynamic deformation was clarified by comparing analytical results


Author(s):  
Xian-Kui Zhu ◽  
Rick Wang

Mechanical dents often occur in transmission pipelines, and are recognized as one of major threats to pipeline integrity because of the potential fatigue failure due to cyclic pressures. With matured in-line-inspection (ILI) technology, mechanical dents can be identified from the ILI runs. Based on ILI measured dent profiles, finite element analysis (FEA) is commonly used to simulate stresses and strains in a dent, and to predict fatigue life of the dented pipeline. However, the dent profile defined by ILI data is a purely geometric shape without residual stresses nor plastic deformation history, and is different from its actual dent that contains residual stresses/strains due to dent creation and re-rounding. As a result, the FEA results of an ILI dent may not represent those of the actual dent, and may lead to inaccurate or incorrect results. To investigate the effect of residual stress or plastic deformation history on mechanics responses and fatigue life of an actual dent, three dent models are considered in this paper: (a) a true dent with residual stresses and dent formation history, (b) a purely geometric dent having the true dent profile with all stress/strain history removed from it, and (c) a purely geometric dent having an ILI defined dent profile with all stress/strain history removed from it. Using a three-dimensional FEA model, those three dents are simulated in the elastic-plastic conditions. The FEA results showed that the two geometric dents determine significantly different stresses and strains in comparison to those in the true dent, and overpredict the fatigue life or burst pressure of the true dent. On this basis, suggestions are made on how to use the ILI data to predict the dent fatigue life.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 168781401879739 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pengyang Li ◽  
Lingxia Zhou ◽  
Fangyuan Cui ◽  
Quandai Wang ◽  
Meiling Guo ◽  
...  

When the load acting on a mechanical structure is greater than the yield strength of the material, the contact surface will undergo plastic deformation. Cumulative plastic deformation has an important influence on the lifespan of mechanical parts. This article presents a three-dimensional semi-analytical model based on the conjugate gradient method and fast Fourier transform algorithm, with the aim of studying the characteristic parameters of the contact region between a rigid ellipsoid and elasto-plastic half-space. Moreover, normal forces and tangential traction were considered, as well as the contact pressure resulting from various sliding speeds and friction coefficients. The contact pressure, effective plastic strain, von Mises stress, and residual stress were measured and shown to increase with increasing sliding velocity. Finally, when the friction coefficient, contact pressure, and effective plastic strain are increased, the von Mises stress is also shown to increase, whereas the residual stress decreases.


2011 ◽  
Vol 70 ◽  
pp. 458-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. F. Robinson ◽  
Janice M. Dulieu-Barton ◽  
S. Quinn ◽  
R. L. Burguete

In some metals it has been shown that the introduction of plastic deformation or strain modifies the thermoelastic constant, K. If it was possible to define the magnitude of the change in thermoelastic constant over a range of plastic strain, then the plastic strain that a material has experienced could be established based on a measured change in the thermoelastic constant. This variation of the thermoelastic constant and the ability to estimate the plastic strain that has been experienced, has potential to form the basis of a novel non-destructive, non-contact, full-field technique for residual stress assessment using thermoelastic stress analysis (TSA). Recent research has suggested that the change in thermoelastic constant is related to the material dislocation that occurs during strain hardening, and thus the change in K for a material that does not strain harden would be significantly less than for a material that does. In the work described in this paper, the change in thermoelastic constant for three materials (316L stainless steel, AA2024 and AA7085) with different strain hardening characteristics is investigated. As the change in thermoelastic response due to plastic strain is small, and metallic specimens require a paint coating for TSA, the effects of the paint coating and other test factors on the thermoelastic response have been considered.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. F. de Campos

AbstractThe investigation of plastic deformation and residual stress by non-destructive methods is a subject of large relevance for the industry. In this article, the difference between plastic and elastic deformation is discussed, as well as their effects on magnetic measurements, as hysteresis curve and Magnetic Barkhausen Noise. The residual stress data can be obtained with magnetic measurements and also by the hole drilling method and x-ray diffraction measurements. The residual stress level obtained by these three different methods is different, because these three techniques evaluate the sample in different depths. Effects of crystallographic texture on residual stress are also discussed. The magnetoelastic term should be included in micromagnetic methods for residual stress evaluation. It is discussed how the micromagnetic energy Hamiltonian should be expressed in order to evaluate elastic deformation. Plastic deformation can be accounted in micromagnetic models as a term that increases the coercive field in soft magnetic materials as the steels are.


Author(s):  
E.E. Deryugin ◽  

The article considers a crack in the form of a narrow cut with a certain cfn at the cut out in an unbounded plate. The characteristics of the mechanical state of this system under uniaxial loading are determined: the stress concentration coefficient, the crack-driving force, and the energy of a solid with a crack. The elastic energy expenditure during crack propagation is determined. The general regularities of the mechanical state of a solid with a crack, not necessary having the form of an ellipse, are revealed. An important parameter of a crack is the curvature at the tip. It is shown that the Griffiths crack does not actually have a singularity at the tip. The stress strain state of the plate with an elliptical crack is identical to the same of the plate with a focus of homogeneous plastic deformation.


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