Estimation of C* Integral for Mismatched Welded Compact Tension Specimen

The C* integral for the compact tension (CT) specimen is calculated using the estimation equation in ASTM E1457-15. This equation was developed based on the assumption of material homogeneity and is not applicable to a welded CT specimen. In this paper, a modified equation for estimating the C* integral for a welded compact tension (CT) specimen under creep conditions is proposed. The proposed equation is defined on the basis of systematically conducted extensive finite element (FE) analyses using the ABAQUS program. A crack in the welded CT specimen is located in the center of the heat-affected zone (HAZ), because the most severe type IV cracks are located in the HAZ. The results obtained by the analysis show that the equation for estimating the C* integral in ASTM E1457-15 can underestimate the value of the C* integral for creep-soft HAZ and overestimate for creep-hard HAZ. Therefore, the proposed modified equation is suitable for describing the creep crack growth (CCG) of welded specimens.

A peridynamic damage-cumulative hybrid model for fatigue cracking

A new peridynamic fatigue damage-cumulative hybrid model is developed in this study, which is modeled by Kinetic Theory of Fracture(KTF) and Paris formula. The compact tension specimen and modified compact tension specimen are used to study the convergence of the fatigue crack growth path and fatigue life. Then constant amplitude cyclic loading and variable amplitude cyclic loading of the specimens are simulated. By comparing with the experimental results, the accuracy of the model is verified. Compared with the fatigue model that only uses KTF, the hybrid model predicts the fatigue crack growth rate more accurately. The model is based on the stress damage criterion in the fatigue crack initiation stage, which can be a basis for fatigue prediction and safety design of components in complex stress state in actual engineering.

PLAIN AND PVA FIBRE-REINFORCED GEOPOLYMER COMPACT TENSION SPECIMEN CRITICAL AREA SURFACE COMPOSITION ASSESSMENT

For more than 40 years, low calcium alkali-activated cement composite, or in other words, geopolymer, has been around. In recent years there has been increased interest in this material and its properties. It is mainly due to the claim that geopolymer is the cement of the future. This claim is based on environmental factors. For instance, the CO2 emissions for geopolymer binder can be up to 6 less than for Portland cement binder. Most of the researches regarding geopolymer composite properties examine only mechanical and long-term properties in compression. There has been a lack of long-term tests in tension due to difficulties in performing them. As the tensile stresses are an essential part of structure assessment, it is necessary to evaluate new material properties as thoroughly as possible. Due to the nature of geopolymer specimen hardening (polymerisation), there is a difference in modulus of elasticity development and shrinkage caused by binding that could have factors that regular Portland cement specimens do not.This article aims to evaluate the surface composition of plain and 1% PVA reinforced geopolymer compact tension specimens that have been subjected to creep and shrinkage tests. Specimen cross-section images were acquired using the scanning electron microscope (SEM). Using the quantitative image analysis method, amounts of cross-section composition elements are determined. Furthermore, the amount of cracks is determined and compared between plain and PVA fiber-reinforced specimens.It has been determined that even though 1% of PVA fibre-reinforced specimens have lower tensile strength, their creep and shrinkage strains are lower, and the number of microcracks at the notch base of the specimen. Still, it has to be acknowledged that the amount of air voids in all analysed specimens is relatively high.

A study of DCT specimen in the verification of the influence of the geometric variation in the stress intensity factor

The objective of this work is to verify the influence of the stress intensity factor in the linear elastic fracture mechanics model. The model consists in a Disk-shaped Compact Tension specimen (DCT) of concrete material. The methodology considers a comparative study of an analytical approach from the literature and numerical simulations. These numerical simulations are performed in ANSYS Workbench program by the use of the Finite Element Method (FEM). The results show that the solutions obtained are satisfactory for the comparative study.

Blood clot fracture properties are dependent on red blood cell and fibrin content

Thrombus fragmentation during endovascular stroke treatment, such as mechanical thrombectomy, leads to downstream emboli, resulting in poor clinical outcomes. Clinical studies suggest that fragmentation risk is dependent on clot composition. This current study presents the first experimental characterization of the fracture properties of blood clots, in addition to the development of a predictive model for blood clot fragmentation. A bespoke experimental test-rig and compact tension specimen fabrication has been developed to measure fracture toughness of thrombus material. Fracture tests are performed on three physiologically relevant clot compositions: a high fibrin 5% H clot, a medium fibrin 20% H clot, a low-fibrin 40% H clot. Fracture toughness is observed to significantly increase with increasing fibrin content, i.e. red blood cell-rich clots are more prone to tear during loading compared to the fibrin-rich clots. Results also reveal that the mechanical behaviour of clot analogues is significantly different in compression and tension. Finite element cohesive zone modelling of clot fracture experiments show that fibrin fibres become highly aligned in the direction perpendicular to crack propagation, providing a significant toughening mechanism. The results presented in this study provide the first characterization of the fracture behaviour of blood clots and are of key importance for development of next-generation thrombectomy devices and clinical strategies.

ATLAS+ European Project: Prediction of Large Ductile Tearing in Austenitic Piping Using Local Approach

In the frame of the European ATLAS+ project it was decided to evaluate if a continuum damage model can simulate a four-points bending test on an austenitic pipe (316L type) with an aged welded joint. In this paper, the theoretical background is presented. Then, based on finite elements analyses, the GTN model damage parameters are defined by simulating laboratory tests on Notched Tensile specimens and Compact Tension specimen. Finally, the four points bending test simulation is also presented.

Numerical Analysis of Fatigue Crack Growth Path and Life Predictions for Linear Elastic Material

The main objective of this work was to present a numerical modelling of crack growth path in linear elastic materials under mixed-mode loadings, as well as to study the effect of presence of a hole on fatigue crack propagation and fatigue life in a modified compact tension specimen under constant amplitude loading condition. The ANSYS Mechanical APDL 19.2 is implemented for accurate prediction of the crack propagation paths and the associated fatigue life under constant amplitude loading conditions using a new feature in ANSYS which is the smart crack growth technique. The Paris law model has been employed for the evaluation of the mixed-mode fatigue life for the modified compact tension specimen (MCTS) with different configuration of MCTS under the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) assumption. The approach involves accurate evaluation of stress intensity factors (SIFs), path of crack growth and a fatigue life evaluation through an incremental crack extension analysis. Fatigue crack growth results indicate that the fatigue crack has always been attracted to the hole, so either it can only curve its path and propagate towards the hole, or it can only float from the hole and grow further once the hole has been lost. In terms of trajectories of crack propagation under mixed-mode load conditions, the results of this study are validated with several crack propagation experiments published in literature showing the similar observations. Accurate results of the predicted fatigue life were achieved compared to the two-dimensional data performed by other researchers.

A study on the matching of constraint between steam turbine blade and laboratory specimens

The matching of constraint between laboratory specimens and actual cracked structures is a key problem of the accurate structure integrity assessment. Different laboratory specimens and the steam turbine blade with different constraints were selected, the matching of constraint between steam turbine blade and laboratory specimens was investigated. The results shown that the steam turbine blade with 2 c = 50 mm, a/2 c = 0.20 has a matching constraint with single edge-notched bend specimen with a/ W = 0.6 and single edge-notched tensile specimen with a/ W = 0.3. The steam turbine blade with 2 c = 50 mm, a/2 c = 0.25 has a matching constraint with single edge-notched bend specimen with a/ W = 0.7. The steam turbine blade with 2 c = 50 mm, a/2 c = 0.30 has a matching constraint with single edge-notched bend specimen with a/ W = 0.5 and single edge-notched tensile specimen with a/ W = 0.1. The steam turbine blade with 2 c = 50 mm, a/2 c = 0.35 has a matching constraint with single edge-notched bend specimen with a/ W = 0.4, compact tension specimen with a/ W = 0.3 and central-cracked tension specimen with a/ W = 0.7. The steam turbine blade with a = 15 mm, a/2 c = 0.30 has a matching constraint with compact tension specimen with a/ W = 0.7 and single edge-notched tensile specimen with a/ W = 0.5. The steam turbine blade with a = 15 mm, a/2 c = 0.40 has a matching constraint with compact tension specimen with a/ W = 0.4. The steam turbine blade with a = 15 mm, a/2 c = 0.50 has a matching constraint with single edge-notched bend specimen with a/ W = 0.5.