Crystallization and mechanical behavior of semi-crystalline polyethylene

Molecular dynamics simulations are employed to study the crystallinity and mechanical properties of multi-chain polyethylene systems. Results show that structural composition (length and number of chains) and temperature lead to different crystallinity, which are obtained by using two general measurement methods, namely chain orientation and global order. The semi-crystalline polyethylene systems are deformed under various mechanical loading modes and at different temperatures representing different polymer states. The stretching temperature and structural composition have a strong influence on the mechanical properties, including elastic modulus, yield stress and inelastic mechanisms. The orientation crystallization caused by the heat treatment stage induces a significant direction effect on the different parts of the large-strain stress-strain response. Besides, the competition of the two main inelastic deformation mechanisms, namely shear yielding and cavitation damage, are revealed during the course of stretching.

Modelling of Flow Patterns over Spillway with CFD (Case Study: Haditha Dam in Iraq)

Spillways are designing to release surplus water over a volume of storage. The excess water flows from the top of the reservoir and is carried back to the river by a spillway. Many radial gates were destroyed under hydrodynamic load. Radial gate connectors are susceptible to fatigue failure due to excessive vibration; therefore, gate vibration during operation must be investigated to confirm safe operation at the design water pressure. Several studies were carried out to analyse and simulation of flow over the spillway. In this article, the flow pattern over the Haditha dam spillway has been simulated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The numerical model was performed using Ansys Fluent 2020 R1 to simulate the flow properties; determination of cavitation damage at three discharges corresponding in the design of Haditha dam are 4700, 7140, and 7900 m3/s. In addition to finding the effect of gate vibration under dynamic water loads. The Realisable k-ɛ turbulence model was utilised with the volume of fluid (VOF) model to simulate the interaction between air and water phases. The validation of the numerical model was achieved by comparing it with a physical model. The physical model of the Haditha Dam spillway was made from iron with a scale of 1:110. It has been designed and constructed in a hydraulic laboratory according to the modelling principle of the hydraulic structure. The results showed that a high agreement between the physical and numerical model and the k-ɛ turbulence model could simulate the Haditha dam spillway with low cost and few times. The cavitation damage may occur at the region start at the end of the arching spillway to stretches downstream, and there is no damage of gate vibration under dynamic water load.

Shock Waves as dominant Mechanism for Cavitation damage

In this paper, the mechanism of energy transfer from cavitation bubbles to solids is demonstrated as shock waves. To identify this mechanism, cavitation bubble structures, the corresponding damaged surface, and the wear particles in vibratory erosion tests on pure aluminum Al-99.999 using high-speed and SEM photography were observed. The eroded surface morphology was in the form of large swellings (hundreds of micrometers), which embodies the plastic flow. Results indicate that large swelling regions formed in a few seconds are caused by shock pressure waves and not by a microjet only several micrometers in size. The observed surface erosion and falling particles make it clear that the mechanism of cavitation wear is fatigue failure.

State of the art in cavitation erosion studies

Object and purpose of research. This paper discusses cavitation erosion on propeller blades. The purpose of this work is to review and analyse modern studies on cavitation erosion, as well as to apply these research results for better under-standing of cavitation damage risk on full-scale propellers. Materials and methods. The paper reviews recent studies on cavitation erosion, as well as the author’s own findings in cavitation erosion on full-scale steel propellers, analyzing the energy needed to create cavitation damage of recorded size. This energy was calculated as per the model based on the results of metallurgical studies discussing the effect of shot blasting upon steel properties. Comparison of these results with those obtained as per classic formulae for the collapse energy of cavita-tion bubble made it possible to estimate the conditions of cavitation erosion on propeller blades. Main results. The review of recent studies on cavitation erosion has shown that current progress in the technologies of experimental studies and computer-based simulations made it possible to considerably improve the knowledge about cavitation erosion process as compared to the level of the 20th century. This review shows that cavitation erosion studies followed three practically independent paths: experimental studies and computer-based simulation of flow around propeller blades with locali-zation of peaks for one or several criteria reflecting the intensity of cavitation energy fluctuations; the studies intended to esti-mate the pressure exerted by collapsing cavitation bubbles and emerging cumulative jets; and finally, the studies on the proper-ties of materials affected by cumulative jets and collapsing bubbles. At this point, it would be practicable to merge these three paths using the results of full-scale cavitation erosion analysis for propellers. KSRC findings in cavitation damage of full-scale steel propeller has shown that cavitation damage recorded in these studies might occur due to a certain combination between the required energy, bubble-blade interaction pressure and the size of affect-ed area on steel blade surface, and this combination, in its turn, might take place when cavitation bubbles consisting of vapour fraction with partial air content hit the blade surface and collapse. Conclusion. This paper shows the capabilities of modern research methods in obtaining new data on the inception mecha-nism of cavitation erosion. Still, to develop the methods for prediction of cavitation erosion (in particular, on propellers), it is necessary to merge the results obtained in different branches of cavitation studies. The basis for this merging could become a power-based analysis of cavitation processes, with help of the cavitation erosion model suggested in this paper and based on the similarity between cavitation erosion and shot-blasting.

Effect of Gas Microbubble Injection and Narrow Channel Structure on Cavitation Damage in Mercury Target Vessel

The target vessel, which enclosing liquid mercury, for the pulsed spallation neutron source at the J-PARC is severely damaged by cavitation caused by proton beam-induce pressure waves in mercury. To mitigate the cavitation damage, we adopted a double-walled structure with a narrow channel for the mercury at the beam window of the target vessel. The narrow channel disturbs the growth of cavitation bubbles due to the pressure gradient. In addition, gas microbubbles are injected into the mercury to suppress the pressure waves. After finishing service operation, the front end of the target vessel was cut out to inspect the effect of those cavitation damage mitigation technologies on the interior surface. The damage depth of the cutout specimens for the original design type and double-walled target vessels were quantitatively investigated by the replica method. The results showed that the double-walled target facing mercury with gas microbubbles operate 1812 MWh for an average power of 434 kW is equivalent to the damage of original design target operated 1048 MWh for average power of 181 kW. The erosion depth due to cavitation in the narrow channel is clearly smaller than on the wall facing bubbly mercury.

Mechanisms and morphologies of cavitation damage of NN 70 steel

Broken test tubes for low-cycle fatigue testing of Nionicral 70 (NN-70) parent material (PM) steel and simulated heat-affected zones (SHAZ) were used to produce samples for cavitation resistance testing. Ultrasonic vibrational cavitation method (stationary sample method) was applied for testing in laboratory conditions. The test conditions and procedure, sample preparation and interpretation of results are defined by ASTM G32. The surfaces of the NN-70 PM and SHAZ steel samples were exposed to cavitation and damage monitoring over time. Measuring the weight loss of samples on the analytical balance after a certain time allowed us to determine the cavitation velocity as a measure of the material's resistance to the effect of cavitation. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was applied to monitor variations in surface morphology with changing test time. On the basis of the results of the cavitation resistance test, the morphologies of the surface damage for different exposure times of the cavitation of PM and SHAZ steel NN-70 samples were analyzed, as well as the mechanisms that led to the damage of the sample surfaces.