Probabilistic Assessment of Low-Cycle Fatigue Behavior of Structural Welds

1976 ◽  
Vol 98 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. R. Ellingwood

Low-cycle fatigue behavior of structural welds is dependent on material characteristics, geometry at fatigue-critical locations, loading history including residual stresses, and environment. Since these factors may occur randomly and contribute significantly to the uncertainty in design, probabilistic methods are required for their analysis and for the development of appropriate fatigue design criteria. The analysis and prediction of low-cycle fatigue behavior of structural welds is discussed in terms of the foregoing factors. Consideration of statistical uncertainties in the various parameters enables prediction and interpretation of variability in fatigue response, and permits selection of design allowables which correspond to a small probability of unacceptable fatigue performance. These techniques are shown to provide a systematic basis for assessing fatigue reliability of structural welds.

2006 ◽  
Vol 324-325 ◽  
pp. 959-962
Author(s):  
Yao Chun Zhang ◽  
Wei An Lian ◽  
Wen Yuan Zhang

The low cycle fatigue behavior and energy dissipation capacity around the weak axis of the welded I-section bracing members are investigated by 35 pinned-pinned bracing specimen tests under the axial cyclic loading with different characteristics. Particular attention is paid to the effects of loading amplitude, loading history and geometry properties of these members. It is found that the fatigue damage propagating to fracture in the flanges of the bracing members can be divided into 3 stages involving the macroscopic surface crack initiation, the penetrated crack formation and the penetrated crack propagation. Some empirical formulas to estimate the fatigue life and cyclic energy dissipation capacity of the bracing members are also presented based on the experimental data. The statistical analysis indicates that the fatigue life to surface crack initiation significantly depends on the inelastic local buckling and will increase with decreasing width-thickness ratio of the flanges and increasing slenderness ratios of the bracing members. Besides, it is found that the low cycle fatigue and energy dissipation of these members also depends on loading amplitude and loading history, and the effects of overloads and mean compression amplitude can improve the fatigue performance of bracing members. The test results show that the bracing members with better low-cycle fatigue resistance have the better energy dissipation capacities.


Transport ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 195-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Žilvinas Bazaras

Probabilistic methods are based on the use of statistical data about mechanical characteristics and lifetime at cyclic loading of a material. In this investigation statistical low cycle fatigue tests were carried out and mechanical characteristics of three materials (steel of grades 15X2MFA and 45 and aluminium alloy D16T1), representing all possible variations of cyclic properties (fatigue, quasi ‐ static and intermediate mode of fracture) were determined experimentally. Based on the obtained data the analysis of design curves of equal fracture probability for steels 15X2MFA and 45 and aluminium alloy D16T1 at strain low cycle loading was performed and the design curves were compared with the experimental ones.


1981 ◽  
Vol 103 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Hale ◽  
S. A. Wilson ◽  
J. W. Kass ◽  
E. Kiss

This report summarizes results of a comprehensive experimental program on the low cycle fatigue behavior of commercial grade piping steels in a high-pressure, high-temperature, oxygenated water environment. A total of 110 specimens of special design were tested in a boiling water reactor (BWR) primary water environment (500°F, 1040 psig (or 260° C, ∼ 7 MPa). Four piping steels, in several different metallurgical conditions, were involved (Types-304 and –304L stainless steels, Inconel-600 and A-516 carbon steel). Companion tests, employing the same types of specimens, were conducted in 500° F (260° C) air. The results of this work confirm the adequacy of the current ASME Section III fatigue design curves to account for the effect of a BWR primary water environment on the low cycle fatigue behavior of the four materials tested.


Materials ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1944 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xing He ◽  
Junfeng Chen ◽  
Wei Tian ◽  
Yuebing Li ◽  
Weiya Jin

Compared with the fatigue properties of the material (Inconel Alloy 690), the real fatigue lives of tubes are more meaningful in the fatigue design and assessment of steam generator (SG) tube bundles. However, it is almost impossible to get a satisfactory result by conducting fatigue tests on the tube directly. A tube with a uniform and thin wall easily fails near the clamping ends under cyclic loading due to the stress concentration. In this research, a set-up for fatigue tests of real tubes is proposed to overcome the stress concentration. With the set-up, low cycle fatigue tests were conducted in accordance with an existing fatigue design curve for Alloy 690. Strain control mode was applied with fully reversed push–pull loading under different strain amplitudes (0.15%, 0.2%, 0.3%, and 0.4%). A favourable result was obtained, and the low cycle fatigue behavior was investigated. The results showed that the fatigue life tested by the real tube was below the strain–life curve of Alloy 690 which was fitted by conventional solid specimens. A cyclic hardening behavior was found by the cyclic stress–strain curve when compared with the monotonic stress–strain curve.


Author(s):  
Jean Alain Le Duff ◽  
Andre´ Lefranc¸ois ◽  
Jean Philippe Vernot

In February/March 2007, The NRC issued Regulatory Guide “RG1.207” and Argonne National Laboratory issued NUREG/CR-6909 that is now applicable in the US for evaluations of PWR environmental effects in fatigue analyses of new reactor components. In order to assess the conservativeness of the application of this NUREG report, Low Cycle Fatigue (LCF) tests were performed by AREVA NP on austenitic stainless steel specimens in a PWR environment. The selected material exhibits in air environment a fatigue behavior consistent with the ANL reference “air” mean curve, as published in NUREG/CR-6909. LCF tests in a PWR environment were performed at various strain amplitude levels (± 0.6% or ± 0.3%) for two loading conditions corresponding to a simple or to a complex strain rate history. The simple loading condition is a fully reverse triangle signal (for comparison purposes with tests performed by other laboratories with the same loading conditions) and the complex signal simulates the strain variation for an actual typical PWR thermal transient. In addition, two various surface finish conditions were tested: polished and ground. This paper presents the comparisons of penalty factors, as observed experimentally, with penalty factors evaluated using ANL formulations (considering the strain integral method for complex loading), and on the other, the comparison of the actual fatigue life of the specimen with the fatigue life predicted through the NUREG report application. For the two strain amplitudes of ± 0.6% and ± 0.3%, LCF tests results obtained on austenitic stainless steel specimens in PWR environment with triangle waveforms at constant low strain rates give “Fen” penalty factors close to those estimated using the ANL formulation (NUREG/6909). However, for the lower strain amplitude level and a triangle loading signal, the ANL formulation is pessimistic compared to the AREVA NP test results obtained for polished specimens. Finally, it was observed that constant amplitude LCF test results obtained on ground specimens under complex loading simulating an actual sequence of a cold and hot thermal shock exhibits lower combined environmental and surface finish effects when compared to the penalty factors estimated on the basis of the ANL formulations. It appears that the application of the NUREG/CR-6909 in conjunction with the Fen model proposed by ANL for austenitic stainless steel provides excessive margins, whereas the current ASME approach seems sufficient to cover significant environmental effects for representative loadings and surface finish conditions of reactor components.


Author(s):  
Jürgen Rudolph ◽  
Adrian Willuweit ◽  
Steffen Bergholz ◽  
Christian Philippek ◽  
Jevgenij Kobzarev

Components of conventional power plants are subject to potential damage mechanisms such as creep, fatigue and their combination. These mechanisms have to be considered in the mechanical design process. Against this general background — as an example — the paper focusses on the low cycle fatigue behavior of a main steam shut off valve. The first design check based on standard design rules and linear Finite Element Analysis (FEA) identifies fatigue sensitive locations and potentially high fatigue usage. This will often occur in the context of flexible operational modes of combined cycle power plants which are a characteristic of the current demands of energy supply. In such a case a margin analysis constitutes a logical second step. It may comprise the identification of a more realistic description of the real operational loads and load-time histories and a refinement of the (creep-) fatigue assessment methods. This constitutes the basis of an advanced component design and assessment. In this work, nonlinear FEA is applied based on a nonlinear kinematic constitutive material model, in order to simulate the thermo-mechanical behavior of the high-Cr steel component mentioned above. The required material parameters are identified based on data of the accessible reference literature and data from an own test series. The accompanying testing campaign was successfully concluded by a series of uniaxial thermo-mechanical fatigue (TMF) tests simulating the most critical load case of the component. This detailed and hybrid approach proved to be appropriate for ensuring the required lifetime period of the component.


2012 ◽  
Vol 06 ◽  
pp. 251-256
Author(s):  
HO-YOUNG YANG ◽  
JAE-HOON KIM ◽  
KEUN-BONG YOO

Co -base superalloys have been applied in the stationary components of gas turbine owing to their excellent high temperature properties. Low cycle fatigue data on ECY-768 reported in a companion paper were used to evaluate fatigue life prediction models. In this study, low cycle fatigue tests are performed as the variables of total strain range and temperatures. The relations between plastic and total strain energy densities and number of cycles to failure are examined in order to predict the low cycle fatigue life of Cobalt-based super alloy at different temperatures. The fatigue lives is evaluated using predicted by Coffin-Manson method and strain energy methods is compared with the measured fatigue lives at different temperatures. The microstructure observing was performed for how affect able to low-cycle fatigue life by increasing the temperature.


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