• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.65-89
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• 2016

This paper presents the development of methodologies using Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM) for cracked unstiffened and concentric stiffened panels subjected to constant amplitude tensile fatigue loading. XFEM formulations such as level set representation of crack, element stiffness matrix formulation and numerical integration are presented and implemented in MATLAB software. Stiffeners of the stiffened panels are modelled using truss elements such that nodes of the panel and nodes of the stiffener coincide. Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) is computed from the solutions of XFEM using domain form of interaction integral. Paris's crack growth law is used to compute the number of fatigue cycles up to failure. Numerical investigations are carried out to model the crack growth, estimate the remaining life and generate damage tolerant curves. From the studies, it is observed that (i) there is a considerable increase in fatigue life of stiffened panels compared to unstiffened panels and (ii) as the external applied stress is decreasing number of fatigue life cycles taken by the component is increasing.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.26 no.9
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• pp.1746-1752
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• 2002

Fatigue fracture in machine components is produced by surface micro-crack from stress concentration area such as notch and material defect. It is difficult to predict the remaining fatigue lift of mechanical components because the surface micro-crack on critical area initiates and grows with statistical distribution. Plane bending fatigue tests were carried out on the plain specimen of Al 2024-T3 and the initiation and growth behavior of surface micro cracks were observed. The statistical distribution of surface length of multiple micro cracks and their maximum length were investigated. The maximum surface crack length distributions were analyzed on the basis of the statistics of extremes in order to examine the prediction of remaining life.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.11-20
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• 2007

This thesis develops a fatigue model for the asphalt black base using the APT(Accelerated Pavement Testing) and analyzes the correlation of the APT analysis result with results of previous laboratory tests. For the APT testing, aggregate of the maximum grain size of 25mm(BB-3) was used as the material for the asphalt black base. The result of the APT revealed that the variable of the fatigue model, i.e. the maximum tensile stress on the bottom part of the pavement, increased as the number of loading increased while the modulus of elasticity for the pavement layer decreased gradually. The tensile strain was obtained from a strain gauge, and it was used to derive the values of $k_1=1.29{\times}10^{-6}$ and $k_2=3.02$ from the basic equation of the asphalt fatigue model, $N_f=k_1(\frac{1}{\epsilon})^{k_2}$. The fatigue life predicted from the asphalt fatigue model was greater than that obtained from laboratory experiments, given the same tensile strain. Additionally, a theory to estimate the remaining life of the pavement was developed using FWD, a non-destructive experiment.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.353-358
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• 2002

The purpose of this paper was to estimate the cumulative damage of pavement concrete by split tension fatigue test. The split tension fatigue test of variable amplitude loading were performed in two and three stages. The results of the fatigue test by variable amplitude loading showed that the sums of damage were greater than 1 in the increasing sequence loading tests, and less than 1 in the decreasing sequence loading tests. The remaining life estimated by equivalent damage theory was almost similar to that of experimental results.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.569-584
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• 2016

This paper presents a method for stochastic modelling of fatigue crack growth and optimising inspection and maintenance strategy for the structural members of steel bridges. The fatigue crack evolution is considered as a stochastic process with uncertainties, and the Gamma process is adopted to simulate the propagation of fatigue crack in steel bridge members. From the stochastic modelling for fatigue crack growth, the probability of failure caused by fatigue is predicted over the service life of steel bridge members. The remaining fatigue life of steel bridge members is determined by comparing the fatigue crack length with its predetermined threshold. Furthermore, the probability of detection is adopted to consider the uncertainties in detecting fatigue crack by using existing damage detection techniques. A multi-objective optimisation problem is proposed and solved by a genetic algorithm to determine the optimised inspection and maintenance strategy for the fatigue affected steel bridge members. The optimised strategy is achieved by minimizing the life-cycle cost, including the inspection, maintenance and failure costs, and maximizing the service life after necessary intervention. The number of intervention during the service life is also taken into account to investigate the relationship between the service life and the cost for maintenance. The results from numerical examples show that the proposed method can provide a useful approach for cost-effective inspection and maintenance strategy for fatigue affected steel bridges.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.274-279
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• 2001

Creep-fatigue crack growth behavior was experimentally measured particularly when a crack was located in the heat affected region of 1Cr-0.5Mo steel. Load hold times of the tests for trapezoidal fatigue waveshapes were varied among 0, 30, 300 and 3,600 seconds. Time-dependent crack growth rates were characterized by the $C_t$-parameter. It was found that the crack growth rates were the highest when the crack path was located along the fine-grained heat affected zone(FGHAZ). Cracks located in other heat affected regions had a tendency to change the crack path eventually to FGHAZ. Creep-fatigue crack growth law of the studied case is suggested in terms of $(da/dt)_{avg}$ vs. $(C_t)_{avg}$ for residual life assessment.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.355-359
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• 2000

Ion beam assisted deposition system was used to deposit CNx coatings with various thickness on the substrates of high-frequency induction hardened steels. Rolling contact fatigue tests were performed using Polymet RCF-1 machine with a constant supply of lubricant. Rolling contact fatigue life was substantially different in the steels with various thickness of CNx coatings. The optimum thickness of CNx coating was found to be $8.9{\mu}m$, showing the longest fatigue life, mainly caused by higher resistance to initiation of cracks and protective overcoat remaining to the surface failure during rolling contact fatigue. Cracks were initiated in the substrates under the surface of wear track and propagated to the surface, which eventually resulted in the failure. The reduction of fatigue life observed in the specimen with elimination of CNx coating during rolling contact fatigue was explained by the substrates deformation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.193-200
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• 2014

In this study, fatigue tests on existing continuous welded rail (CWR) on a concrete track were carried out. Based on the test results, a S-N curve expressing the remaining life of the CWR at a fracture probability of 50% was obtained using weighted probit analysis suitable for small-sample fatigue data sets. As rails had different histories in terms of accumulated passing tonnage, the test data were corrected to average out the accumulated passing tonnage. The remaining service life for the CWR on the concrete track in an urban railway was estimated using the prediction equation for the bending stress of rail developed in the past to estimate rail base bending stress and taking the surface irregularities into consideration. Estimating the remaining service life of the CWR in an urban railway showed that the rail replacement period could be extended over 200MGT. In addition, comparing the concrete track to the ballast track, the fatigue life of rail was analyzed as approximately 300MGT higher than. Therefore, the rail replacement criteria needs to distinguish between the ballast track and the concrete track, and not the criteria needs to be changed as a target for the maintenance, although it is necessary to remove longitudinal rail surface irregularities at welds by grinding.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.108-116
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• 2014

The proper stress history measurement should be conducted in order to examine the accurate cause of fatigue cracks or the fatigue safety in the steel bridge. Only one strain gauge is generally installed in the field for the stress history examination because of the field circumstances, economic feasibility, workability, and so on. However, this method may not consider the actual size of the specific structure, the gauge length, and the affect of stress concentration in the welded joint. In addition, it is difficult to apply for the stress analysis. Therefore, this study suggests improvements that are a great number of gauge installations, the gauge location adjustment, and the use of the minimum length gauge. It is drived the correlative equation of strain for the distance between the welding toe and the strain gauge installation, and compare correlative equation with equation of IIW. Also, this study could estimate the remaining life and fatigue damage of bridge in service by selecting the suitable stress category. In conclusion, it is possible to understand the member which is high in the fatigue cracks, and the quantitative relations between the welding toe and the strain gauge installation distances. The proposed approach in this study can make an more accurate fatigue damage and a remaining life prediction so that the improved method should be applied in measuring the strain of bridges from now on.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.347-364
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• 1996

Presently welded components are designed using S/N curves which predict only the fatigue life of the component. In order to ascertain the condition of the weld at any intermediate period of its life inspection is carried out. If cracks are detected in a weld fracture mechanics is used to find their remaining life. A procedure for assessment is developed here that can be used to verify the condition of a weld before inspection is carried out to detect cracks. This simple method has been developed using linear fracture envelopes by combining S/N curves with linear elastic fracture mechanics.