Fractographic Study of Marine Diesel Engine Connecting Rod Stud Bolt Crack

Failures of marine diesel engine components can lead to serious consequences for a vessel, cargo and the people on board a ship. These consequences can be financial losses, delay in delivery time or a threat to safety of the people on board. This is why it is necessary to learn about connecting rod bolt failures in order to prevent worst-case scenarios. This paper aims at determining the origin, velocity and the duration of fatigue crack development of a diesel alternator engine which suffered a significant failure of one of its mains, not long after a major overhaul had been completed and with less than 1000 running hours having elapsed. It was verified with fatigue rupture of one of the four connecting rod stud bolts. Tensile tests were performed in the remaining connecting rod bolts. During this procedure, another fatigue crack in an adjacent bolt was identified. The probable root case of damage, and at the end some final remarks are presented.

Fatigue Analysis Design Approach, Manufacturing and Implementation of a 500 kW Wind Turbine Main Load Frame

The main load frame of a wind turbine is the primary mount for all nacelle equipment and is used as the principal load transmitter. This frame should have a reliable fatigue safety rating because it is a load-bearing component. In this work, the fatigue life design, manufacturing and implementation process for the main load frame of a 500 kW wind turbine are studied. The weight of the main load frame and static safety factors are preserved while the cyclic life of the bedplate is kept infinite. Modified Goodman theory is applied to achieve an effective fatigue design using a commercial finite element software package. Analytical calculations are carried out to obtain the safety factors of the bedplate and dynamic strength of the materials. A finite element approach is employed to perform stress analysis. Stress oscillations are established for both welded and cast parts of the hybrid bedplate, and the maximum and minimum stress values are established. Fatigue safety factors are calculated via fatigue analysis iterations. The obtained safety factors are adequate from the perspective of commonly accepted fatigue safety standards. Welding and casting techniques are applied together for manufacturing of the frame. On-site testing indicates that the wind turbine does not show any signs of fatigue. Rupture, cracks, and abrupt accelerometer reading variations are not observed.

Evaluation of High Cycle Fatigue Properties of Double Side Welded AISI 321 Plates Using GTAW Process for Pressure Vessels

Titanium stabilized AISI 321 material (UNS S32100) is generally preferred in the pressure vessel industry as they are not sensitive to intergranular corrosion. In critical applications, the fatigue behaviour of weld seams are amongst the most stringent requirements. The microstructural characteristics and fatigue performance of double side welded AISI 321 plate having 6 mm thickness were evaluated in this work. AISI 321 was welded with Double side-gas tungsten arc welding (DS-GTAW) process. The fatigue behavior was examined under a loading ratio of 0.1 for two different specimens: Base metal (BM) and Weld metal (WM). Monotonic tensile results show the improved tensile properties of WM compared to BM samples. The fatigue strength of WM (332.6 MPa) was 25% higher than that of BM (265.7 MPa) specimen and is attributed to the increase in ferrite volume along with dendritic microstructure. The change in the fraction of low angle grain boundaries (LABs) and high angle grain boundaries (HABs) improved the tensile and fatigue properties. The stress amplitudes influenced the degree of striations in the BM and WM. Final fracture surfaces were characterized with dimples and micro-voids, revealing the ductile mode of fatigue fracture. The fatigue rupture surfaces of BM and WM samples at different stress regimes are discussed.

Study of the Mechanical Behavior of an Automobile Brake Disc

An automobile brake disc brought into contact with the pads, mechanical stresses are imposed on the contact surface. These stresses can cause degradation by fatigue, rupture, wear, propagation of cracks. Modeling the numerical results makes it possible to recognize this damage in order to improve the braking system, extend its service life, reduce the cost of maintenance and make it more reliable. The aim of our study concerns modeling and numerical simulation using ANSYS 14.5 software based on the finite element method under the influence of certain essential parameters on the braking behavior of the torque as a function of geometric parameters, properties mechanical, boundary conditions, type of loading applied, type of materials chosen and type of analysis carried out in braking torques (ventilated drilled disc / pads and ventilated grooved disc / pads), upon contact with a disc in rotation with a plate which represents the friction body on the disc. The behavior of the torque during braking was analyzed in terms of stresses and deformations, and displacements, the comparison between the two types of discs was also discussed.

Thermal Emission analysis to predict damage in specimens of High Strength Concrete

In this paper thermal analysis was applied to determine the “Critical Stress” of concrete, different from its ultimate strength, able to produce the first damage in the structures under compressive loads. The Critical Stress can be thought as the stress able to produce the beginning of fatigue rupture within the material. Several specimens of high strength concrete were tested in order to define the incipient crack phenomena, also in internal part of the specimen not accessible by direct inspections, with the aid of infrared thermography. A finite element analysis completes the study and compares, for the same static loading conditions, the stress state with the experimental thermographic images. The final results show as the coupling of normal compressive test and the acquisition of the thermal images can be a useful aid to estimate a security stress value, indeed the Critical Stress, before the Ultimate Serviceability Limit (SLU) of the structure, defined as the maximum load condition before its failure.

Fatigue of the automobile structural materials in corrosive environment

Operation of machines and equipment is accompanied by an impact produced by various types of loads leading to fatigue rupture of the structural materials. The most harmful are the vibration loads which in a corrosive environment increase the potential for a failure resulting in human casualties. Therefore, the task of ensuring the operating capability of machine elements and assemblies is one of the outstanding tasks for all industry sectors. In addition, the need for extending the service life and increasing the operational reliability is also determined by a relatively high cost of the machine structural materials and hardware items. Therefore, the execution of the experimental studies of the structural material fatigue features with a view to reduce the metal consumption, to establish new processing methods as well as to select a competitive material, are of the priority for the up-to-date machine building sector. The purpose of this article is to determine any fatigue behavior regularities in automotive materials which were pre-processed according to various technology types and modes and which were operating in a corrosive environment. The experimental data analysis has demonstrated that the longer the cyclic metal materials testing is run, the more sufficient is the decrease of the fatigue resistance of these.

Microscopic Multiple Fatigue Crack Simulation and Macroscopic Damage Evolution of Concrete Beam

Microcracks in concrete can coalesce into larger cracks that further propagate under repetitive load cycles. Complex process of crack formation and growth are essentially involved in the failure mechanism of concrete. Understanding the crack formation and propagation is one of the core issues in fatigue damage evaluation of concrete materials and components. In this regard, a numerical model was formulated to simulate the thorough failure process, ranging from microcracks growth, crack coalescence, macrocrack formation and propagation, to the final rupture. This model is applied to simulate the fatigue rupture of three-point bending concrete beams at different stress levels. Numerical results are qualitatively consistent with the experimental observations published in literature. Furthermore, in the framework of damage mechanics, one damage variable is defined to reflect stiffness reduction caused by fatigue loading. S-N curve is subsequently computed and the macroscopic damage evolution of concrete beams are achieved. By employing the combined approaches of fracture mechanics and damage mechanics, made possible is the damage evolution of concrete beam as well as the microscopic multiple fatigue crack simulation. The proposed approach has the potential to be applied to the fatigue life assessment of materials and components at various scales in engineering practice.

Resin-Dentin Bonding Interface: Mechanisms of Degradation and Strategies for Stabilization of the Hybrid Layer

Several studies have shown that the dentin-resin interface is unstable due to poor infiltration of resin monomers into the demineralized dentin matrix. This phenomenon is related to the incomplete infiltration of the adhesive system into the network of exposed collagen fibrils, mainly due to the difficulty of displacement and subsequent replacement of trapped water between interfibrillar spaces, avoiding adequate hybridization within the network of collagen fibrils. Thus, unprotected fibrils are exposed to undergo denaturation and are susceptible to cyclic fatigue rupture after being subjected to repetitive loads during function. The aqueous inclusions within the hybrid layer serve as a functional medium for the hydrolysis of the resin matrix, giving rise to the activity of esterases and collagenolytic enzymes, such as matrix metalloproteinases, which play a fundamental role in the degradation process of the hybrid layer. Achieving better interdiffusion of the adhesive system in the network of collagen fibrils and the substrate stability in the hybrid layer through different strategies are key events for the interfacial microstructure to adequately function. Hence, it is important to review the factors related to the mechanisms of degradation and stabilization of the hybrid layer to support the implementation of new materials and techniques in the future. The enzymatic degradation of collagen matrix, together with resin leaching, has led to seeking strategies that inhibit the endogenous proteases, cross-linking the denudated collagen fibrils and improving the adhesive penetration removing water from the interface. Some of dentin treatments have yielded promising results and require more research to be validated. A longer durability of adhesive restorations could resolve a variety of clinical problems, such as microleakage, recurrent caries, postoperative sensitivity, and restoration integrity.

Construction of a Generalized Fatigue Diagram of Metallic Materials

The paper presents the results of the study of the stage of accumulation of damage and fatigue rupture of titanium alloys (using the method of acoustic emission). The main object of research was the development of a method for designing a generalized fatigue diagram characterizing the stage of fatigue damage accumulation. The studies aimed at experimental verification of the hypothesis of the stage of damage accumulation, which can be established only by the registered parameters of acoustic emission with separate analysis by types of acoustic emission sources. In contrast to the method of research, which is carried out fractographic analysis, the use of acoustic emission method can significantly reduce the amount of testing. The types of acoustic emission sources on the distribution plane of two-parameter “AE signal energy EAE vs. frequency parameter Kf” are considered. Fatigue stages in the tests of trial alloys were determined by the activity of the AE signals emitted by different types of AE sources (dislocation, micro - and macro-cracks). A generalized diagram of fatigue developed according to the specified stages. The developed method significantly reduces the volume of fatigue tests and fractographic studies.