STRATIFIED MODEL FOR ESTIMATING FATIGUE CRACK GROWTH RATE OF METALLIC MATERIALS

The curve of relationship between fatigue crack growth rate and the stress strength factor amplitude represented an important fatigue property in designing of damage tolerance limits and predicting life of metallic component parts. In order to have a more reasonable use of testing data, samples from population were stratified suggested by the stratified random sample model (SRAM). The data in each stratum corresponded to the same experiment conditions. A suitable weight was assigned to each stratified sample according to the actual working states of the pressure vessel, so that the estimation of fatigue crack growth rate equation was more accurate for practice. An empirical study shows that the SRAM estimation by using fatigue crack growth rate data from different stoves is obviously better than the estimation from simple random sample model.

A preliminary study of a new high-resolution detector matrix applied to three-dimensional dose verification in intensity-modulated radiotherapy

Objective:To test the basic dosimetry characteristics of a new high-resolution matrix and to perform a preliminary study on the three-dimensional(3D)dose verification of intensity-modulated treatment(IMRT).Methods:The dosimetry characteristics of the new matrix were investigated,including repeatability,dose-rate response,and dose linearity.Twenty cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC)and 20 cases with lung cancer were randomly selected for IMRT plans,and the novel matrix was employed for 3D dose verification.The measured results were evaluated using the gamma passing rate(GPR)and dose volume histogram(DVH).The action limit(AL)and tolerance limit(TL)of the target volume and each organ at risk(OAR)were calculated with reference to the American Association of Physicists in Medicine(AAPM)TG218 report.Results:The matrix performed well for all dosimetry characteristic tests,with a deviation of<1%.The average GPRs of the body were(99.32±0.32)%,(98.36±0.59)%,and(96.27±1.20)%for NPC,and(99.17±0.74)%,(98.09±1.33)%,and(95.83±2.22)%for lung cancer at the gamma standards of 3%/3 mm,3%/2 mm,and 2%/2 mm.The average GPRs difference between the head-neck and thorax-abdomen plans were<1%for the same gamma standard.For both the target volumes and OARs,the average GPRs were>90%under the relatively strict standard of 2%/2 mm.The DVH showed that the measurement results of D_(98) and D_(95) for the target volumes were slightly lower and D_(2) were higher than those of treatment planning system(TPS)(P<0.01).In addition,with the same standard,there may be significant differences in the values of AL and TL between different structures for target volumes and OARs,especially small-volume OARs such as the chiasma and optic nerve-L.Conclusions:The new matrix showed good dosimetry characteristics and can be effectively applied to the treatment planning dose verification of the head-neck and lung cancer.Further research is needed to establish how to analyze the GPR and DVH of the target volume and OARs,and to determine more precise dose verification standards combined with the parameters of AL and TL to better guide 3D dose verification in clinic.