Fracture Fatigue And Structural Integrity Of Metallic Materials And Components Undergoing Random Or Variable Amplitude Loadings

Most metallic components and structures are subjected, in service, to random or variable amplitude loadings. There are many examples: vehicles subjected to loadings and vibrations caused by road irregularity and engine, structures exposed to wind, off-shore platforms undergoing wave-loadings, and so on. Just like constant amplitude loadings, random and variable amplitude loadings can make fatigue cracks initiate and propagate, even up to catastrophic failures. Engineers faced with the problem of estimating the structural integrity and the fatigue strength of metallic structures, or their propensity to fracture, usually make use of theoretical, numerical, or experimental approaches. This reprint collects a series of recent scientific contributions aimed at providing an up-to-date overview of approaches and case studies-theoretical, numerical or experimental-on several topics in the field of fracture, fatigue strength, and the structural integrity of metallic components subjected to random or variable amplitude loadings.

Fracture, fatigue, and other subcritical processes, such as creep crack growth or stress corrosion cracking, present numerous open issues from both scientific and industrial points of view. These phenomena are of special interest in industrial and civil metallic structures, such as pipes, vessels, machinery, aircrafts, ship hulls, and bridges, given that their failure may imply catastrophic consequences for human life, the natural environment, and/or the economy. Moreover, an adequate management of their operational life, defining suitable inspection periods, repairs, or replacements, requires their safety or unsafety conditions to be defined. The analysis of these technological challenges requires accurate comprehensive assessment tools based on solid theoretical foundations as well as structural integrity assessment standards or procedures incorporating such tools into industrial practice. This volume is focused on new advances in fracture, fatigue, and structural integrity of metallic structural components containing defects (e.g., cracks, notches, metal loss, etc.), and also on those developments that are being or could be incorporated into structural integrity assessment procedures, such as BS7910, R6, or API 579-1/ASME FFS-1.

Fracture, fatigue, and other subcritical processes, such as creep crack growth or stress corrosion cracking, present numerous open issues from both scientific and industrial points of view. These phenomena are of special interest in industrial and civil metallic structures, such as pipes, vessels, machinery, aircrafts, ship hulls, and bridges, given that their failure may imply catastrophic consequences for human life, the natural environment, and/or the economy. Moreover, an adequate management of their operational life, defining suitable inspection periods, repairs, or replacements, requires their safety or unsafety conditions to be defined. The analysis of these technological challenges requires accurate comprehensive assessment tools based on solid theoretical foundations as well as structural integrity assessment standards or procedures incorporating such tools into industrial practice.

In dealing with fracture and fatigue assessments of structural components, different approaches have been proposed in the literature. They are usually divided into three subgroups according to stress-based, strain-based, and energy-based criteria. Typical applications include both linear elastic and elastoplastic materials and plain and notched or cracked components under both static and fatigue loadings. The aim of this Special Issue is to provide an update to the state-of-the-art on these approaches. The topics addressed in this Special Issue are applications from nano- to full-scale complex and real structures and recent advanced criteria for fracture and fatigue predictions under complex loading conditions, such as multiaxial constant and variable amplitude fatigue loadings.

This volume contains 18 papers selected from 90 presented at the Fifth International Conference on Biaxial/Multiaxial Fatigue and Fracture held in Cracow, Poland 8-12 September 1997. The papers in this book deal with theoretical, computational and experimental aspects of the multiaxial fatigue and fracture of engineering materials and structures. The papers are divided into the following four categories: 1. Proportional cyclic loading 2. Non-proportional cyclic loading 3. Variable amplitude and random loading 4. Crack growth Most papers in this publication talk about the behaviour of constructional materials and elements of machines under non-proportional loading and under variable amplitude and random loading, which are more realistic load histories met in industrial practice. Variable amplitude loading under cyclic load with basic frequency and random loading under load with a continuous band of frequency is classified here. This book gives a review of the latest world success and directions of investigations on multiaxial fatigue and fracture. More and more often publications are results of the co-operation of researchers from different laboratories and countries. Seven out of eighteen papers included here were worked out by international authors teams. This is a symptom of the times, when science and investigations know no borders.

This book presents the proceedings of one of the major conferences in fatigue, fracture and structural integrity (NT2F). The papers are organized and divided in five different themes: fatigue and fracture mechanics of structures and advanced materials; fatigue and fracture in pressure vessels and pipelines: mechanical behavior and structural integrity of welded, bonded and bolted joints; residual stress and environmental effects on the fatigue behavior; and simulation methods, analytical and computation models in fatigue and fracture.

The European Structural Integrity Society (ESIS) Technical Commitee on Fatigue of Engineering Materials and Structures (TC3) decided to compile a Special Technical Publication (ESIS STP) based on the 115 papers presented at the 6th International Conference on Biaxial/Multiaxial Fatigue and Fracture. The 25 papers included in the STP have been extended and revised by the authors. The conference was held in Lisbon, Portugal, on 25-28 June 2001, and was chaired by Manual De Freitas, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisbon. The meeting, organised by the Instituto Superior Tecnico and sponsored by the Portuguese Minesterio da Cienca e da Tecnologia and by the European Structural Integrity Society, was attended by 151 delegates from 20 countries. The papers in the present book deal with the theoretical, numerical and experimental aspects of the Multiaxial fatigue and fracture of engineering materials and structures. They are divided in to the following six sections; Multiaxial Fatigue of Welded Structures; High cycle Multiaxial fatigue; Non proportional and Variable-Amplitude loading; Defects, Notches, Crack Growth; Low Cycle Multiaxial Fatigue; Applications and Testing Methods. As is well-known, most engineering components and structures in the mechanical, aerospace, power generation, and other industries are subjected to multiaxial loading during their service life. One of the most difficult tasks in design against fatigue and fracture is to translate the information gathered from uniaxial fatigue and fracture tests on engineering materials into applications involving complex states of cyclic stress-strain conditions. This book is the result of co-operation between many researchers from different laboratories, universities and industries in a number of countries.