• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.377-390
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• 2010

This paper studies fracture initiation direction of two parallel non-coplanar cracks of equal length. Using the dislocation pile-up modelling, singular integral equations for two parallel cracks subjected to mixed-mode loading are derived and the crack-tip field including singular and non-singular terms is obtained. The kinking angle is determined by using the maximum hoop stress criterion, or the ${\sigma}_{\theta}$-criterion. Results are presented for simple uniaxial tension and biaxial loading. The biaxiality ratio has a noticeable influence on crack growth direction. For the case of biaxial tension, when neglecting the T-stress the crack branching angle is overestimated for small crack inclination angles relative to the largest applied principal stress direction, and underestimated for large crack inclination angles.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.270-277
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• 2004

In this paper, path-independent values of the J-integral in the fininte element context for arbitrary two-dimensional and three-dimensional crack configurations in welds are presented. For the fracture mechanics analysis of cracks in welds, residual stress analysis and fracture analysis must be performed simultaneously. In the analysis of cracked bodies containing residual stress, the usual domain integral formulation results in path-dependent values of the J-integral. This paper discusses modifications of the conventional J-integral that yield path independence in the presence of residual stress generated by welding. The residual stress problem is treated as an initial strain problem and the J-integral modified for this class of problem is used. And a finite element program which can evaluate the J-integral for cracks in two-dimensional and three-dimensional residual stress bearing bodies is developed using the modified J-integral definition. The situation when residual stress only is present is examed as is the case when mechanical stresses are applied in conjunction with a residual stress field.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.597-618
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• 2014

For the structures containing multiple discontinuities (voids, inclusions, and cracks), the simulation technologies in the framework of extended finite element method (XFEM) are discussed in details. The level set method is used for representing the location of inner discontinuous interfaces so that the mesh does not need to align with these discontinuities. Several illustrations have been given to verify that the implemented XFEM program is effective. Then, the implemented XFEM program is used to investigate the effects of the voids, inclusions, and minor cracks on the path of major crack propagation. For a plate containing cracks and voids, two possibly crack path can be observed: i) the crack propagates into the void; ii) the crack initially curves towards the void, then, the crack reorients itself and propagates along its original orientation. For a plate with a soft inclusion, the final predicted crack paths tend to close with the inclusion, and an evident difference of crack paths can be observed with different inclusion material properties. However, for a plate with a hard inclusion, the paths tend to away from the inclusion, and a slightly difference of crack paths can only be seen with different inclusion material properties. For a plate with several minor cracks, the trend of crack paths can still be described as that the crack initially curves towards these minor cracks, and then, the crack reorients itself and propagates almost horizontally along its original orientation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.5-13
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• 1995

Various techniques to measure fracture toughness which is an important parameter to predict fracture behavious of structural materials have been reported. Among these mathods, this paper describes the micro-Vickers indentation crack method to estimate the fracture toughness of some WC-Co composites. Two indentation crack patterns (such as radial-median cracks (orhalf-penny cracks) and Palmqvist cracks generated during indentation) are referred precisely. The fracture toughness of WC-4.7wt%Co, WC-6wr%Co and WE-9wr%Co composites were estimated by using some equations given by Shetty et al., Nihara et al. in this study. We show the reliability of indentation method by comparing the results with those from literatures. The appropriate equation to estimate the fracture toughness in the case of WC-Co composite is given. In addition, some technical informations in terms of the crack length by indentation in estimating the existence of the surface residual stress that prevents to obtain an accurate fracture toughness are presented.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.169-185
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• 2012

The concrete bridge is likely to produce fatigue cracks during long period of service due to the moving vehicular loads and the degeneration of materials. This paper deals with the time-frequency analysis of a coupled bridge-vehicle system. The bridge is modeled as an Euler beam with breathing cracks. The vehicle is represented by a two-axle vehicle model. The equation of motion of the coupled bridge-vehicle system is established using the finite element method, and the Newmark direct integration method is adopted to calculate the dynamic responses of the system. The effect of breathing cracks on the dynamic responses of the bridge is investigated. The time-frequency characteristics of the responses are analyzed using both the Hilbert-Huang transform and wavelet transform. The results of time-frequency analysis indicate that complicated non-linear and non-stationary features will appear due to the breathing effect of the cracks.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.73-81
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• 2004

Failure mechanisms of welded joints under fatigue loads are interpreted that multiple collinear surface cracks initiating randomly along the weld toes propagate under the mutual interaction and coalescence of adjacent two cracks. To estimate fatigue crack propagation life for three types of the representative welded joints, i.e. non-load carrying cruciform, cover plate and longitudinal stiffener joint, the stress intensity factors at the front of the surface cracks have to be calculated, which are influenced strongly by the geometry of attachments, weld toes and the crack shapes. For the effective calculation of the stress intensity factors the Mk-factor was introduced which can be derived by a parametric study performed by FEM considering influence of the geometrical effects. The fatigue life of the cruciform joint was estimated by using the Mk-factors and the method considering the propagation mechanisms of the multiple surface cracks. Analysis results for the fatigue life had a good agreement with that of experiment.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2002.03a
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• pp.173-180
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• 2002

The specimens with three discontinuities have been tested in uniaxial compression. The geometry of discontinuities is changed by three different parameters: flaw inclination angle, continuity, and spacing. From the tips of the discontinuities wing and secondary cracks are observed. Wing cracks initially propagate curvilinear direction and follow loading direction after some distance from the tip of the discontinuities. Two different types of secondary cracks have been observed from the study: quasi-coplanar secondary cracks and oblique secondary cracks. From the test nine different types of coalescence are observed and they show a correlation with flaw angle and ligament angle. It is attempted to simulate the observed results by using FROCK(Fractured ROCK). FROCK is a code based on the hybridized DDM(Displacement Discontinuities Method) . It is shown that FROCK has quite potential of modeling of rock fracture processes.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.779-789
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• 2021

Cracks in railway sleeper are an inevitable condition and has a significant influence on the safety of railway system. Although the technology of railway sleeper condition monitoring using machine learning (ML) models has been widely applied, the crack recognition accuracy is still in need of improvement. In this paper, a two-stage method using edge detection and convolutional neural network (CNN) is proposed to reduce the burden of computing for detecting cracks in railway sleepers with high accuracy. In the first stage, the edge detection is carried out by using the 3×3 neighborhood range algorithm to find out the possible crack areas, and a series of mathematical morphology operations are further used to eliminate the influence of noise targets to the edge detection results. In the second stage, a CNN model is employed to classify the results of edge detection. Through the analysis of abundant images of sleepers with cracks, it is proved that the cracks detected by the neighborhood range algorithm are superior to those detected by Sobel and Canny algorithms, which can be classified by proposed CNN model with high accuracy.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.680-689
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• 2010

The crack-tip stress fields and fracture mechanics assessment parameters for a surface crack, such as the elastic stress intensity factor or the elastic-plastic J-integral, can be affected significantly by the adjacent cracks. Such a crack interaction effect due to multiple cracks can alter the fracture mechanics assessment parameters significantly. There are many factors to be considered, for instance the relative distance between adjacent cracks, the crack shape, and the loading condition, to quantify the crack interaction effect on the fracture mechanics assessment parameters. Thus, the current assessment codes on crack interaction effects (crack combination rules), including ASME Sec. XI, BS7910, British Energy R6 and API 579-1/ASME FFS-1, provide different rules for combining multiple surface cracks into a single surface crack. The present paper investigates crack interaction effects by evaluating the elastic stress intensity factor and the elastic-plastic J-integral of adjacent in-plane surface cracks in a plate through detailed 3-dimensional elastic and elastic-plastic finite element analyses. The effects on the fracture mechanics assessment parameters of the geometric parameters, the relative distance between two cracks, and the crack shape are investigated systematically. As for the loading condition, an axial tension is considered. Based on the finite element results, the acceptability of the crack combination rules provided in the existing guidance was investigated, and the relevant recommendations on a crack interaction for in-plane surface cracks are discussed. The present results can be used to develop more concrete guidance on crack interaction effects for crack shape characterization to evaluate the integrity of defective components.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.75-83
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• 2017

Effectively monitoring the concrete cracks is an urgent question to be solved in the structural safety monitoring while cracks in hydraulic concrete structures are ubiquitous. In this paper, two experiments are designed based on the measuring principle of Pulse-Pre pump Brillouin Optical Time Domain Analysis (PPP-BOTDA) utilizing Brillouin optical fiber sensor to monitor concrete cracks. More specifically, "V" shaped optical fiber sensor is proposed to determine the position of the initial crack and the experiment illustrates that the concrete crack position can be located by the mutation position of optical fiber strain. Further, Brillouin distributed optical fiber sensor and preinstall cracks are set at different angles and loads until the optical fiber is fractured. Through the monitoring data, it can be concluded that the variation law of optical fiber strain can basically reflect the propagation trend of the cracks in hydraulic concrete structures.