New unloading compliance correlation for throughwall circumferentially cracked pipe to measure crack growth during fracture tests

Crack growth is generally measured during fracture experiment of specimen or component. The unloading compliance technique is commonly used for this purpose because of its simplicity. It infers the crack length from unloading compliance of cracked component. The pre‐requisite of this technique is the availability of an equation that correlates crack length with unloading compliance. While such correlations are available for compact tension and three‐point bend specimens, it is not available for big components such as pipe or pipe bend. Development of such a correlation for throughwall circumferentially cracked (TCC) straight pipe under bending, therefore, forms the objective of the present study. However, the challenge to develop such correlation for TCC pipe is that the equation should contain not only crack length as a function but also the current deformation or load level as a parameter. This is attributed to the fact that the circular cross section of the pipe ovalizes during deformation leading to change of bending stiffness of the cracked body. New compliance correlations have been proposed for TCC pipe under bending load considering these complexities. Elastic‐perfectly plastic material behaviour has been assumed to characterize the material stress–strain response. However, it has been shown that error due to this approximation with respect to the actual stress–strain behaviour is negligible if one chooses flow stress equal to average of yield and ultimate strength. The proposed correlations are expressed in terms of normalized parameters to make them independent of specific values of geometric dimensions such as radius, thickness and span length of four‐point bending loading system. Effectiveness of this normalization has also been verified by carrying out a sensitivity study.     

The SEĖ method for determination of behaviour laws for strain rate dependent material: Application to polymer material

The need to model fracture in crashworthiness by means of finite element codes is a real challenge for research. Before implementing fracture criteria, an excellent knowledge of the stress and strain states in the material just before the crack appearance is the first condition necessary to ensure the model development. At present, most of the material behaviour laws, for example for steel, are only defined until the maximum force when necking occurs. For polymers, the early occurrence of the diffuse necking leads to an experimental technique in which the speed loading is controlled in real time to maintain a constant strain rate during the test. This technique is not however used, due to technical limitations, for high strain rate behaviour laws. In this paper, the authors propose to use the heterogeneity of the displacement field on the surface of the tensile specimen as an initial condition to identify behaviour laws. The method developed uses the information in all the surface zone of the specimen by using digital image correlation. Stresses, strains and strain rates are then obtained to build a surface behaviour called the SE? surface. By cutting it, the experimental behaviour laws for a range of large strains and strain rates are then defined for model identification.     

Influence of foreign object impact mode on fatigue performance of 2198‐T8 Al‐Li alloy thin sheets for fuselage

The 2198‐T8 is the advanced aircraft aluminium‐lithium alloy used for airframe construction. Based on the digital image correlation technique, the postimpact fatigue performance of 2198‐T8 aluminium‐lithium alloy sheets was analysed. The foreign object impact mode includes a single impact, continuous twice‐impacts at the same position and impacts at two parallel positions. For each mode, the collapse behaviours with different impact energies and insert dimensions were investigated. The results could show that residual fatigue life is sensitive to the impact mode, and through digital image correlation (DIC) nephogram analysis, on the surface of dented specimens, there exists the redistribution of strain field. For three types of impact modes, the concept of average damage volume is introduced to fit the effect of dent depth and width on residual fatigue life; the goodness of fit for the whole average damage volume is 89.5%. The crack initiation and propagation of the postimpact fatigue specimen will be affected by the stress concentration and microstructure, and the local multiaxial strain status around the dent will accelerate the crack propagation.     

Development of digital image correlation method to analyse crack variations of masonry wall

The detection of crack development in a masonry wall forms an important study for investigating the earthquake resistance capability of the masonry structures. Traditionally, inspecting the structure and documenting the findings were done manually. The procedures are time-consuming, and the results are sometimes inaccurate. Therefore, the digital image correlation (DIC) technique is developed to identify the strain and crack variations. This technique is non-destructive for inspecting the whole displacement and strain field. Tests on two masonry wall samples were performed to verify the performance of the digital image correlation method. The phenomena of micro cracks, strain concentration situation and nonuniform deformation distribution which could not have been observed preciously by manual inspection are successfully identified using DIC. The crack formation tendencies on masonry wall can be observed at an earlier stage by this proposed method. These results show a great application potential of the DIC technique for various situations such as inspecting shrinkage-induced cracks in fresh concrete, masonry and reinforced concrete structures, and safety of bridges.     

Microscale characterization of granular deformation near a crack tip

This paper presents a study of microscale plastic deformation at the crack tip and the effect of microstructure feature on the local deformation of aluminum specimen during fracture test. Three-point bending test of aluminum specimen was conducted inside a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging system. The crack tip deformation was measured in situ utilizing SEM imaging capabilities and the digital image correlation (DIC) full-field deformation measurement technique. The microstructure feature at the crack tip was examined to understand its effect on the local deformation fields. Microscale pattern that was suitable for the DIC technique was generated on the specimen surface using sputter coating through a copper mesh before the fracture test. A series of SEM images of the specimen surface were acquired using in situ backscattered electronic imaging (BEI) mode during the test. The DIC technique was then applied to these SEM images to calculate the full-field deformation around the crack tip. The grain orientation map at the same location was obtained from electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD), which was superimposed on a DIC strain map to study the relationship between the microstructure feature and the evolution of plastic deformation at the crack tip. This approach enables to track the initiation and evolution of plastic deformation in grains adjacent to the crack tip. Furthermore, bifurcation of the crack due to intragranular and intergranular crack growth was observed. There was also localization of strain along a grain boundary ahead of and parallel to the crack after the maximum load was reached, which was a characteristic of Dugdale–Barenblatt strip-yield zone. Thus, it appears that there is a mixture of effects in the fracture process zone at the crack tip where the weaker aspects of the grain boundary controls the growth of the crack and the more ductile aspects of the grains themselves dissipate the energy and the corresponding strain level available for these processes through plastic work.     

Determining the stress-strain behaviour at large strains from high strain rate tensile and shear experiments

To characterise the high strain rate mechanical behaviour of metals, split Hopkinson bar experiments are frequently used. These experiments basically yield the force and elongation history of the specimen, reflecting not only the specimen material behaviour but also the specimen structural behaviour. Calculation of the real material behaviour from this global response is not straightforward, certainly for materials such as Ti6Al4V where due to low strain hardening, the specimen deformation is very inhomogeneous. However, for fundamental material research and constitutive material modelling, knowledge of the true effective stress versus plastic strain, strain rate and temperature is essential.In this contribution, a combined experimental-numerical approach for extraction of the strain rate and temperature dependent mechanical behaviour from high strain rate experiments is presented. The method involves the identification of the material model parameters used for the finite element simulations. The technique is applied to determine the stress-strain behaviour of Ti6Al4V using both high strain rate in-plane shear and tensile test results. For the tensile tests, even stress-strain data beyond diffuse necking are retrieved. A comparison is made between the material behaviour extracted from the tensile and the shear experiments. The material behaviour is modelled with the Johnson-Cook constitutive relation. It is found that the simultaneous use of tensile and shear tests to identify the model parameters gives a more generally applicable model. Validation of the material model and the finite element simulations is done by local strain measurements in the shear and tensile test by means of digital image correlation.     

Study of crack growth in solid propellants

The stress and displacement fields in an edge-cracked sheet specimen made of a solid propellant and subjected to a uniform displacement along its upper and lower faces was studied. The solid propellant was simulated as a hyperelastic material with constitutive behaviour described by the Ogden strain energy potential. A non-linear finite deformation analysis was performed based on the finite element code ABAQUS. A detailed analysis of the stress field in the vicinity of the crack tip was undertaken. The deformed profiles of the crack faces near the crack tip were determined. The results of stress analysis were coupled with the strain energy density theory to predict the crack growth behaviour including crack initiation, stable crack growth and final termination for two specimens with different dimensions. Crack growth resistance curves representing the variation of crack growth increment versus applied displacement were drawn.     

Exploring a Multi‐modal Experimental Approach to Investigation of Local Embedment Behaviour of Wood under Steel Dowels

A multi‐modal experimental approach for analysing the embedment behaviour of timber connections with steel dowels is proposed in this study. In this approach, a standard mechanical embedment test on single‐dowel connections is combined with an optical measurement of surface deformations of the connection based on digital image correlation principle and an X‐ray micro‐computed tomography examination of the deformations in the dowel‐wood interface. The latter is conducted on cylindrical cores including the dowel hole, physically extracted from the loaded specimen at three characteristic points of the load‐deformation curves. The major challenge of this procedure is disrupted load transfer between the cylindrical core specimens and the external material they were plugged in for further analysis. Despite its challenges and limitations, the method revealed a potential for an unprecedented insight into the micromechanics of dowel connections and for effective correlation of the micro‐level observations with the external macroscopic load‐deformation characteristics.     

Atomic force microscopy and the mechanism of fatigue crack growth

Fatigue crack test was performed using a grain-orientated 3% silicon iron under constant amplitude loading. Growth behaviour of the fatigue crack and slip deformation behaviour near the crack tip were observed in detail by using an atomic force microscope. In the lower K region, only one preferential slip system of this material operated and the fatigue crack grew along that slip plane. It was found that constraint of slip deformation due to cyclic strain hardening resulted in crack arrest and crack branching. The fatigue crack grew in a zigzag manner as a result of such successive crack branching and deflection. In the high K region, two preferential slip systems operated simultaneously to an almost identical extent and the fatigue crack grew in a direction perpendicular to the loading axis. The slipping distance in one loading cycle was measured quantitatively by using the image processing technique and the crack growth mechanism is discussed.     

Strain Measurement of Nickel Thin Film by a Digital Image Correlation Method

Abstract:  Digital image correlation is a whole-field and non-contact strain-measuring method. It provides deformation information of a specimen by processing two digital images captured before and after the deformation. To search the deformed images, a hybrid genetic algorithm, in which a simulated annealing mutation process and adaptive mechanisms are combined with a real-parameter genetic algorithm, is adopted. This method is used to measure the strain during the microtensile testing of nickel thin film. In addition to the conventional single region, a double region in which the strain is inferred from the distance change of two regions is proposed to calculate the strain by digital image correlation. The results indicate that while the strain values obtained by single-region method are reasonable, those obtained by the double region method are more accurate. Moreover, the mechanical properties of nickel thin film could be obtained.     

Nanoscale deformation measurement of microscale interconnection assemblies by a digital image correlation technique

The continuous miniaturization of microelectronic devices and interconnections demand more and more experimental strain/stress analysis of micro-?and nanoscale components for material characterization and structure reliability analysis. The digital image correlation (DIC) technique, with the aid of scanning probe microscopes, has become a very promising tool to meet this demand. In this study, an atomic force microscope (AFM) was used to scan and digitally image micro-interconnection assemblies in a micro-thermoelectric cooler. AFM images of the scan region of interest were obtained separately when the microelectronic device was operated before and after the cooling and heating stages. The AFM images were then used to obtain the in-plane deformation fields in the observed region of the micro-assembly. AFM image correlation is performed for nanoscale deformation analysis using the authors' AFM-DIC program. The results show that the observed region was subjected to cyclic strains when the device worked between its cooling and heating stages, and cyclic strain in the vertical direction was found to be a significant deformation mode. The thermally induced deformation behavior of the micro-assembly device was modeled by finite element analysis (FEA). Both thermal-electric analysis and thermal stress analysis were conducted on a 3D finite element model of the device. It is shown that the experimental results were able to validate the finite element analysis results.     

Experimental study on damage evolution of rock under uniform and concentrated loading conditions using digital image correlation

Damage evolution and crack propagation in sandstone specimens have been observed by digital image correlation method. To investigate deformation and failure process of rock under different loading conditions, uniaxial compression and indentation tests were performed. Through the experiment, displacement and strain fields are simultaneously obtained that can visually display the distribution, mode and evolution of deformation and cracking in rock. Experimental results show that the damage distributes diffusely in rock at early loading stage, and the measured apparent strain increasingly concentrates with loading because of the nucleation of crack; propagation of the crack leads to the eventual failure of the specimen. Damage factor is calculated on the basis of deviation of apparent strain, and localization factor is presented to describe the level of deformation localization. The combined use of two factors can well represent the damage evolution of rock under compression.     

Observing strain localisation processes in bio-cemented sand using x-ray imaging

In-situ x-ray tomography has been used to follow deformation processes in 3D during two triaxial compression tests, one on a specimen of bio-cemented Ottawa 50?C70 sand and the other on a specimen of the non-cemented sand. The global stress-strain responses show that the bio-cementation process increases the shear strength (peak deviator stress is approximately doubled), and causes the material to exhibit a linear behaviour up until peak, as well as increasing the dilatancy angle. The residual strength of the two samples is very close at large strain. Quantitative 3D digital image analysis (porosity, cement-density and strain field measurements), reveals that a dilatant shear band gradually develops pre-peak in the reference material. The cemented sample however undergoes an abrupt change of deformation mechanism at peak stress: from homogeneous deformation to localised dilatant shearing, which is associated with a local loss of cementation.     

A crystal plasticity study of cyclic constitutive behaviour, crack-tip deformation and crack-growth path for a polycrystalline nickel-based superalloy

Crystal plasticity has been applied to model the cyclic constitutive behaviour of a polycrystalline nickel-based superalloy at elevated temperature using finite element analyses. A representative volume element, consisting of randomly oriented grains, was considered for the finite element analyses under periodic boundary constraints. Strain-controlled cyclic test data at 650 °C were used to determine the model parameters from a fitting process, where three loading rates were considered. Model simulations are in good agreement with the experimental results for stress–strain loops, cyclic hardening behaviour and stress relaxation behaviour. Stress and strain distributions within the representative volume element are of heterogeneous nature due to the orientation mismatch between neighbouring grains. Stress concentrations tend to occur within “hard” grains while strain concentrations tend to locate within “soft” grains, depending on the orientation of grains with respect to the loading direction. The model was further applied to study the near-tip deformation of a transgranular crack in a compact tension specimen using a submodelling technique. Grain microstructure is shown to have an influence on the von Mises stress distribution near the crack tip, and the gain texture heterogeneity disturbs the well-known butterfly shape obtained from the viscoplasticity analysis at continuum level. The stress–strain response near the crack tip, as well as the accumulated shear deformation along slip system, is influenced by the orientation of the grain at the crack tip, which might dictate the subsequent crack growth through grains. Individual slip systems near the crack tip tend to have different amounts of accumulated shear deformation, which was utilised as a criterion to predict the crack growth path.     

Determination of Stress Intensity Factor for Cracks in Orthotropic Composite Materials using Digital Image Correlation

Abstract: This paper focuses on the application of the digital image correlation (DIC) technique to determine the stress intensity factor (SIF) for cracks in orthotropic composites. DIC is a full‐field technique for measuring the surface displacements of a deforming object and can be applied to any type of material. To determine the SIF from full‐field displacement data, the asymptotic expansion of the crack‐tip displacement field is required. In this paper the expansion of the crack tip displacement field is derived from an existing solution for strain fields. Unidirectional fibre composite panels with an edge crack aligned along the fibre were tested under remote tensile loading and the displacements were recorded using DIC. The SIF was calculated from the experimental data by fitting the theoretical displacement field using the least squares method. The SIF thus determined was in good agreement with theoretical results and therefore demonstrates the applicability of the derived displacement field and DIC technique for studying fracture in composites.     

Determination of the Parameters of the Two-Parametric Fracture Mechanics along the Crack Front Based on the Digital Image Correlation Data

A mathematical processing technique and an algorithm for the numerical correction of experimental displacement fields on the specimen surface in the vicinity of a crack tip with consideration of the displacement of a body as a rigid whole under its loading and the actual position of a crack tip were proposed. The initial experimental displacement fields in the vicinity of a fatigue crack tip of a compact specimen were determined by digital image correlation. This approach was successfully used for a compact specimen and the possibility of its expansion to obtain the distributions of the stress intensity factors and the nonsingular T stresses along the spatial crack front was shown.     

Object Grating Method Application in Strain Determination on CTOD Tests

Abstract:  Standard fracture toughness tests require standard specimens with the presumption that mechanical properties are uniform in the crack growth direction. Standards for crack tip opening displacement (CTOD) fracture tests prescribe remote crack mouth opening displacement, which can lead to inadequate results in the case of heterogeneous materials properties. This paper describes the application of an object grating method (OGM) on the fracture behaviour of a heterogeneous specimen. Fracture behaviour is described by measuring deformation on the surface of a specimen, in terms of CTOD and, consequently, by strain determination. An OGM is advantageously used when measuring modified CTOD tests on two specimens with an initial crack in a macroscopic heterogeneous welded joint. Results significantly show that fracture behaviour depends on the material in the vicinity of the crack tip concerning the direction of crack propagation.     

Modellierungskonzept für die Versagensbewertung von Laserschweißverbindungen

Failure assessment of laser weldments based on numerical modelling Classical fracture mechanics based assessments are no more sufficient to provide realistic predictions of the deformation and failure behaviour of welded structures. This situation can be improved by numerical modelling based on damage mechanics. A new concept will be provided, which is based on a cohesive model for crack growth simulation. The determination of the relevant material parameters is also considered where testing is combined with numerical simulation. For a laser weld joint, the gradient of the material properties has to be properly characterized. With miniature sized specimens, the material properties can be discretized by homogeneous layers. A new method, based on the digital image technique, has been introduced to determine the stress‐strain curves also in the large strain region due to necking. Test results on small bend bars containing a thin laser weld and a crack like defect in the centre show different crack path developments resulting from a competitive fracture situation. Mainly shear fracture mode occurs, in some cases also a pure normal fracture mode or a combination of both were observed. The concept presented is able to consider the crack development, if all occuring fracture modes are included in the analysis. However, a complete simulation of an extensive crack extension through a heterogeneous structure has not yet been verified.