Simulation of fatigue failure in composite axial compressor blades

Centrifugal forces are generated by a spinning impeller, of magnitudes that create large stresses. Aerodynamic forces are also imparted on an impeller blade, which varies with time and position. These two forces play different roles during compressor events. Damage accumulated from these events results in the fatigue failure of impeller material and structure. Therefore, it is important to design an impeller against dynamic and fatigue failure. The finite element method has been used in the study of impeller fracture mechanics and is regarded as an important tool in the design and analysis of material and structures.     

Analysis of the fatigue failure of a mountain bike front shock

We present an analysis of a mountain bike front shock failure. The failure of the 1-year-old shock occurred catastrophically as the bike was ridden off of a 1-m drop. The failure was the result of fast fracture through both shock tubes at the location where the tubes were press fit into the shock upper crown. Examination of the fracture surfaces of the tubes revealed regions of fatigue crack growth that nearly penetrated the entire thickness of both tubes. An estimate of the forces during use, coupled with stress analysis, revealed three stresses near the fracture site—axial compression, bending, and hoop stresses. During operation, the axial compressive stress is negligible while the hoop and bending stresses are significant. Based on fracture mechanics, and an estimate of the bending stress from a 1-m drop, it is confirmed that the fatigue cracks present on the fracture surface were large enough to induce fast fracture. Prior to the existence of the fatigue cracks, the stresses were magnified locally near the fracture site by a significant stress concentration caused by the sharp transition from the shock tube to the crown. The fatigue cracks initiated at a circumferential location in the tube commensurate with high tensile bending stress and the stiffest region of the crown (highest stress concentration). Based on the evidence, the most probable cause of the bike shock fatigue failure was the shock design, which facilitated high local stresses during use.     

A fracture mechanics and mechanistic approach to the failure of cortical bone

The fracture of bone is a health concern of increasing significance as the population ages. It is therefore of importance to understand the mechanics and mechanisms of how bone fails, both from a perspective of outright (catastrophic) fracture and from delayed/time‐dependent (subcritical) cracking. To address this need, there have been many in vitro studies to date that have attempted to evaluate the relevant fracture and fatigue properties of human cortical bone; despite these efforts, however, a complete understanding of the mechanistic aspects of bone failure, which spans macroscopic to nanoscale dimensions, is still lacking. This paper seeks to provide an overview of the current state of knowledge of the fracture and fatigue of cortical bone, and to address these issues, whenever possible, in the context of the hierarchical structure of bone. One objective is thus to provide a mechanistic interpretation of how cortical bone fails. A second objective is to develop a framework by which fracture and fatigue results in bone can be presented. While most studies on bone fracture have relied on linear‐elastic fracture mechanics to determine a single‐value fracture toughness (e.g., K_c or G_c), more recently, it has become apparent that, as with many composites or toughened ceramics, the toughness of bone is best described in terms of a resistance‐curve (R‐curve), where the toughness is evaluated with increasing crack extension. Through the use of the R‐curve, the intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting its toughness are separately addressed, where ‘intrinsic’ refers to the damage processes that are associated with crack growth ahead of the tip, and ‘extrinsic’ refers to the shielding mechanisms that primarily act in the crack wake. Furthermore, fatigue failure in bone is presented from both a classical fatigue life (S/N) and fatigue‐crack propagation (da/dN) perspective, the latter providing for an easier interpretation of fatigue micromechanisms. Finally, factors, such as age, species, orientation, and location, are discussed in terms of their effect on fracture and fatigue behaviour and the associated mechanisms of bone failure.     

Analysis of fracture failure of fir-tree serrations of stage II turbine disks

This paper presents an analysis of fracture failure of fir-tree serrations in stage II turbine disks in a certain type of engine. On the basis of statistical analysis, basic fracture features and fracture mechanisms of stage II turbine disk serrations have been summarized. The reasons for the serration fracture failure are: (a) the first order bending resonance k=5 in the turbine blade occurring at the speed of 9700 rpm; (b) the unreasonable design of the five-serration structure, which causes each serration to bear non-uniform stresses; (c) the disk being made of the alloy GH2036 having a low fatigue resistance; (d) the high intergranular corrosion sensitivity of GH2036. Finally, measures, i.e. the change of the five-serration structure into a three-serration structure and the replacement of GH2036 with GH2132, have been given to prevent the fracture failures, and the application has indicated that these measures are effective.     

Crack modelling: A novel technique for the prediction of fatigue failure in the presence of stress concentrations

Finite element (FE) analysis and other computational methods have developed rapidly in recent years, allowing accurate predictions of elastic stresses in components of complex geometry. However, the prediction of fatigue failure in these components is still a non-trivial problem; one reason for this is the difficulty of assessing stress concentrations and regions of high stress-gradient. This paper describes a new technique, called “crack modelling”, which addresses the problem through a modification of linear-elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM). LEFM is designed to deal with cracks in nominally elastic stress fields, using elastic analysis to derive a characteristic stress intensity, K or, for cyclic loading, a range ΔK. This methodology is modified in two ways. Firstly it is shown that LEFM can be extended to predict the fatigue behaviour of bodies containing notches of standard geometry, instead of cracks. Secondly, FE analysis is used in conjunction with a modelling exercise in order to extend the method to include bodies of arbitrary shape subjected to any set of loads. The method was first tested using standard notch geometries (blunt and sharp notches in beams), where accurate predictions of fatigue limit could be achieved. It was then applied to an industrial problem, giving a prediction of high-cycle fatigue behaviour for an automotive crankshaft. The method requires only simple mechanical-property data (the material fatigue limit and stress-intensity threshold) and uses only linear-elastic FE modelling. It allows fracture mechanics theory to be used without the need to specifically model the presence of a crack and uses far-field elastic stresses to infer behaviour in the region of a stress concentration.     

Reliability-based fatigue failure analysis for causes assessment of a collapsed steel truss bridge

This paper is intended to demonstrate conventional and reliability-based approaches to the collapse cause assessment in order to identify the effects of mis-installed bracket and H-beam members on the collapse of a steel truss bridge over the Han river in Korea only 15 years after opening to traffic. Based on extensive numerical investigations with parametric studies on various possible failure causes in terms of failure probability and expected fatigue life, it has been found that the mis-installation of bracket and H-beam members accelerated the fatigue failure of the vertical pin-connected hanger. Moreover, it may be observed that both the conventional and reliability-based S-N and linear elastic fracture mechanisms (LEFM) approaches in terms of the expected fatigue life and the fatigue failure probability provide about similar and compatible results. This indicates that any of the reliability approaches could be used as effective and rational techniques for the quantitative investigation of the complex collapse causes, together with the aids of conventional S-N/LEFM fatigue analysis.     

Fatigue failure analysis of rotor compressor blades concerning the effect of rotating stall and surge

Detailed investigation was performed on the effect of the rotating stall and surge on the fatigue failure mechanisms of the axial compressor first stage rotor blades. The static stress distribution of the blades was analysed using three dimensional (3D) finite element method (FEM). The critical fracture stress was calculated using the linear elastic fracture mechanics. Fractographic observation revealed different fatigue fracture modes corresponding to the different fatigue loads. Results demonstrated that during operation two kinds of fatigue loads can occur which are tension-torsion fatigue and bending fatigue. The tension-torsion fatigue stems from the periodic tension-torsion stress induced by the surge, while the bending fatigue load is caused by the rotating stall.     

Crankshaft failure analysis of a boxer diesel motor

This paper reports a failure mode analysis of a boxer diesel engine crankshaft. Crankshafts are components which experiment severe and complex dynamic loadings due to rotating bending combined with torsion on main journals and alternating bending on crankpins. High level stresses appear on critical areas like web fillets, as well as the effect of centrifugal forces and vibrations. Since the fatigue fracture near the crankpin-web fillet regions is one of the primary failure mechanisms of automotive crankshafts, designers and researchers have done the best for improving its fatigue strength. The present failure has occurred at approximately 2000 manufactured engines, and after about 95,000 km in service. The aim of this work is to investigate the damage root cause and understand the mechanism which led to the catastrophic failure. Recommendations for improving the engine design are also presented.     

On the mechanism of fatigue failure in the superlong life regime (N>107 cycles). Part 1: influence of hydrogen trapped by inclusions

The fracture surfaces of specimens of a heat-treated hard steel, namely Cr–Mo steel SCM435, which failed in the regime of N = 10⁵ to 5 × 10⁸ cycles, were investigated by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Specimens having a longer fatigue life had a particular morphology beside the inclusion at the fracture origin. The particular morphology looked optically dark when observed by an optical microscope and it was named the optically dark area (ODA). The ODA looks a rough area when observed by SEM and atomic force microscope (AFM). The relative size of the ODA to the size of the inclusion at the fracture origin increases with increase in fatigue life. Thus, the ODA is considered to have a crucial role in the mechanism of superlong fatigue failure. It has been assumed that the ODA is made by the cyclic fatigue stress and the synergetic effect of the hydrogen which is trapped by the inclusion at the fracture origin. To verify this hypothesis, in addition to conventionally heat-treated specimens (specimen QT, i.e. quenched and tempered), specimens annealed at 300 °C in a vacuum (specimen VA) and the specimens quenched in a vacuum (specimen VQ) were prepared to remove the hydrogen trapped by inclusions. The specimens VA and VQ, had a much smaller ODA than the specimen QT. Some other evidence of the influence of hydrogen on superlong fatigue failure are also presented. Thus, it is concluded that the hydrogen trapped by inclusions is a crucial factor which causes the superlong fatigue failure of high strength steels.     

Analyzing the Failure of Welded Steel Components in Construction Systems

Failure of welded construction steel components can occur due to inappropriate design, wrong steel choice or quality, substandard welding processes and through defective maintenance. Welded constructional steel joints in particular are highly sensitive to issues of fatigue, weld corrosion and/or weld quality. A key concern is on placing welds in regions of nominal stress. Welded joints are produced to a specification, which is used to minimize the heat-affected zone and any residual stress within the weld. In this article, numerous examples of weld fracture are shown together with the causes and of weld failure.     

制冷压缩机阀片断裂失效分析

对半封闭活塞式制冷压缩机的断裂阀片的分析表明,阀片失效属于金属疲劳断裂机制。阀片表面缺陷可以形成疲劳裂纹源,而阀片在加工或者使用过程中形成的机械损伤或者腐蚀凹痕是表面缺陷的表现形式。对7C27 Mo2和20C两种阀片钢进行比较分析可知,7C27 Mo2比20C具有更高的抗拉强度、硬度、疲劳强度和耐腐蚀性,在压缩机高负荷使用条件下应优先选用7C27 Mo2。     

Fatigue failure of a Slickline wire induced by corrosion pits

A Slickline wire failed after nearly 400 h of service. In order to find out the main causes and the sequence of this failure, a detailed analysis was carried out on a fracture fragment of this component. This analysis revealed that the operation of the wire produced a series of superficial discontinuities, comprising corrosion pits, fatigue cracking and wear grooves, that provided several stress raisers which served as the initiation point for the failure. Additionally, the manufacturing process introduced some longitudinal cracks that helped in the propagation of the final fracture. Finally, due to the presence of dimples in the last portion of the failure, it could be concluded that the ductility of the material was not compromised.     

Experimental study on the tension fatigue behavior and failure mechanism of 3D multi-axial warp knitted composites

An experimental study is described in this paper dealing with the tension–tension fatigue and failure mechanism of 3D MWK composites with different fiber architectures and material sizes. Macroscopic fracture morphology and SEM micrographs are examined to understand the fatigue damage and failure mechanism. The results show the fatigue properties and failure mechanism of composites can be affected significantly by the fiber architecture and material size. The fatigue life of material A(0°/0°/0°/0°) with small fiber orientation angle is significantly longer than that of material B(+45°/−45°/+45°/−45°). For material A, the fatigue properties of the long composite are better than that of the short one. It is 0° fiber bundles fracture under fatigue stress which cause the material failure and the long composite provides more space for the formation and propagation of local fatigue micro-cracks. However, for material B, the short composites have better fatigue properties. Moreover, the materials show typical ±45° zigzag fatigue fracture and obvious shear behavior. The fatigue cracks for the long composite can be spread more quickly along the fiber/matrix interface due to the fiber bundles realignment.     

Marine main engine crankshaft failure analysis: A case study

A case study of a catastrophic failure of a web marine crankshaft and a failure analysis under bending and torsion applied to crankshafts are presented. A microscopy (eye seen) observation showed that the crack initiation started on the fillet of the crankpin by rotary bending and the propagation was a combination of cyclic bending and steady torsion. The crack front profile approximately adopts a semi-elliptical shape with some distortion due to torsion and this study is supported by a previous research work already published by the authors. The number of cycles from crack initiation to final failure of this crankshaft was achieved by recording of the main engine operation on board, taking into account the beachmarks left on the fatigue crack surface. The cycles calculated by the linear elastic fracture mechanics approaches showed that the propagation was fast which means that the level of bending stress was relatively high when compared with total cycles of main engine in service. Microstructure defects or inclusion were not observed which can conclude that the failure was probably originated by an external cause and not due to an intrinsic latent defect. Possible effects of added torsional vibrations which induce stresses are also discussed. Some causes are analyzed and reported here but the origin of the fatigue fracture was not clearly determined.     

Microfractography in failure analysis of cold forging dies

In this paper microfractographic features in fracture surfaces for tensile, fatigue, impact and three point bending of cold forging die steels with Rockwell C scale hardness number of 52–68 is presented. The emphasis is placed upon the stretched zone formation ahead of fatigue crack and the relation between the stretched zone width and fracture toughness of these cold forging die steels. Finally it is briefly described that the quantitative analysis for cold forging die failure can be possible by measuring the stretched zone width.     

Examination of the failure of sandwich beams with core junctions subjected to in-plane tensile loading

The paper concerns local effects occurring in the vicinity of junctions between different cores in sandwich beams subjected to tensile in-plane loading. It is known from analytical and numerical modelling that these effects display themselves by an increase of the bending stresses in the faces as well as the core shear and transverse normal stresses at the junction. The local effects have been studied experimentally to assess the influence on the failure behaviour both under quasi-static and fatigue loading conditions. Typical sandwich beam configurations with aluminium and glass-fibre reinforced plastic (GFRP) face sheets and core junctions between polymer foams of different densities and rigid plywood or aluminium were investigated. Depending on the material configuration of the sandwich beam, premature failure accumulating at the core junction was observed for quasi-static and/or fatigue loading conditions. Using Aluminium face sheets, quasi-static loading caused failure at the core junction, whereas no significance of the junction was observed for fatigue loading. Using GFRP faces, a shift of the failure mode from premature core failure in quasi-static tests to face failure at the core junction in fatigue tests was observed. In addition to the failure tests, the sandwich configurations have been analysed using finite element modelling (FEM) to elaborate on the experimental results with respect to failure prediction. Both linear modelling and nonlinear modelling including nonlinear material behaviour (plasticity) was used. Comparing the results from finite element modelling with the failure behaviour observed in the quasi-static tests, it was found that a combination of linear finite element modelling and a point stress criterion to evaluate the stresses at the core junction can be used for brittle core material constituents. However, this is generally not sufficient to predict the failure modes and failure loads properly. Using nonlinear material properties in the modelling and a point strain criterion improves the failure prediction especially for ductile materials, but this has to be examined further along with other failure criteria.     

Use of electronic speckle pattern interferometry in the detection of fatigue failure in high strength steels

The fatigue behaviour of next generation high strength steels (σ_UTS = 950–1000 MPa) has been studied. Specifically, this study is focused on the initiation stage of fatigue microcracks. With this purpose, high cycle fatigue tests under uniaxial loading have been performed. During these tests, the deformation history of the specimen has been tracked by means of speckle interferometry. This technique allows monitoring the evolution of the displacement field and its derivatives on the specimen surface, so that it can be used as a tool for detecting microcracks in the first stages of crack initiation. The observation of the fracture surfaces provides complementary information about the localization of the initiation of failure thus, a correlation between the observations made by interferometry and the actual location of the fatigue nucleus and the evolution of the crack during its propagation can be established. Results appoint speckle interferometry as a promising technique for the detection of fatigue failures.     

Failure Analysis of a Diesel Engine Gear System Consisting of Camshaft and Crankshaft Gears

A failure investigation was conducted on a diesel engine gear system consisting of a driven camshaft and drive crankshaft gears that were used in a truck. The gears are made from a nitrided 42CrMo steel. Adjacent teeth fracture and plastic deformation regions appeared on the gears after a 400 h run test of the gear system. Fractography indicates that fatigue fracture is the dominant failure mechanism for the gear teeth. Although the appearance of needle-like nitrides in the nitrided layer and the narrow depth of the compound layer may decrease the fatigue strength of the camshaft gear, these do not suffice to lead to the premature fracture of the gear teeth. Geometrical analysis of the gears was performed and compared with an analysis of unfailed gears that had experienced a run test for 1800 h. The comparison reveals that the small fillet radius at the root area of the camshaft gear concentrated the stresses and is mainly responsible for fatigue fracture of the teeth. The camshaft gear is the component that initiated trouble in the gear system. The appearance of severe plastic deformation on the gear faces is caused by the fractured teeth crushing the teeth faces and being embedded in the grooves between teeth.     

A unified fatigue failure criterion for unidirectional laminates

A unified fatigue failure criterion using micromechanics related to the fracture plane has been developed to predict fatigue lives of unidirectional fibre reinforced polymer composites subjected to cyclic off-axis tension–tension loading. Since the failure criterion incorporates both stresses and strains it may be characterized as energy based. Accounting for the fibre load angle as well as the stress ratio is the novelty of this fatigue failure criterion. The criterion only requires the stress ratio to be known from the experimental procedure. The relation between the applied load and the micro-stress and micro-strain field can be determined from a numerical method. The fatigue failure criterion has been verified by applying it to different sets of experimental data. Several fibre load angles, different fibre/matrix combinations as well as stress ratios are covered. The predicted fatigue lives are in good agreement with the experimental results for both different fibre load angles and stress ratios.     

New quantized failure criteria: application to nanotubes and nanowires

In this paper new quantized failure criteria are proposed, also for nanoscale applications. The main theories in the context of the strength of solids, i.e., of brittle fracture, dynamic fracture, fatigue and Weibull Statistics are reconsidered according to the proposed “quantization rules”. The “corresponding principle” is verified and thus the classical theories are found to be the limit cases of the quantized counterparts. As an example, our treatment is applied to very recent experimental results on carbon or WS₂ nanotubes and to futurist ultra-nanocrystalline diamond nanowires, for which the tensile, bending and ideal strength are estimated.