Detection of internal crack growth in polyethylene pipe using guided wave ultrasonic testing

Despite the success of guided wave ultrasonic inspection for internal defect detection in steel pipes,its application on polyethylene(PE)pipe remains relatively unexplored.The growth of internal cracks in PE pipe severely affects its pressure-holding capacity,hence the early detection of internal cracks is crucial for effective pipeline maintenance strategies.This study extends the scope of guided wave-based ultrasonic testing to detect the growth of internal cracks in a natural gas distribution PE pipe.Laboratory experiments and a finite element model were planned to study the wave-crack interaction at different stages of axially oriented internal crack growth with a piezoceramic transducer-based setup arranged in a pitch-catch configuration.Mode dispersion analysis supplemented with preliminary experiments was performed to isolate the optimal inspection frequency,leading to the selection of the T(0,1)mode at 50-kHz for the investigation.A transmission index based on the energy of the T(0,1)mode was developed to trace the extent of simulated crack growth.The findings revealed an inverse linear correlation between the transmission index and the crack depth for crack growth beyond 20%crack depth.

RESEARCH ON THE FORMATION MECHANISM OF INTERNAL CRACK IN THE CONTINUOUS CASTING SLAB

In view of the periodic bending deformation of solid-liquid interface in the solidification process for continuous casting slab, the variation of temperature gradient and dendritic spacing in the front edge of the solid-liquid interface, and the nucleation and propagation process of crack were studied. It is shown that the bending deformation of the interface results in the temperature field change in the front edge of solid-liquid interface, and the occurrence of temperature gradient along drawing direction results in the growth of secondary dendrites. The initial crack formed during the middle and final stage of solidification may extend to the surface of the casting slab and become an internal crack. The results of the theoretical analysis are basically in agreement with that of the experiment.

Formation of internal cracks during soft reduction in rectangular bloom continuous casting

To investigate the formation of internal cracks in GCrl 5 bearing steels during the soft reduction process in rectangular bloom con- tinuous casting, fully coupled thermomechanieal finite element models were developed using the commercial software MSC.MARC, and microstructures and fractographs were also observed. With the finite element models, the contours of temperature, equivalent plastic strain, and equivalent vun Mises stress were simulated. It is observed that the fracture surfaces of internal cracks are covered by cleavage or quasi-cleavage facets. The region of internal cracks in the intergranular brittle fracture mode is in the mushy zone between the zero ductility temperature （ZDT） and the zero strength temperature （ZST）. The simulated equivalent plastic strain in the crack region is 2.34%-2.45%, which is larger than the critical strain （0.4%-1.5%）, and the equivalent von Mises stress is 1.84-5.05 MPa, which is within the range of criti- cal stress （3.9-7.2 MPa）, thus resulting in the occurrence of internal cracks. Reducing the soft reduction amount from 3 to 2 mm can lower the stress under the critical value.

Formation mechanism of internal cracks in continuously cast slab

In order to make clear the formation mechanism of centerline cracks incontinuously cast slabs, the form, distribution and other characteristics of the cracks wereanalyzed. The final solidification point, surface temperature of the slabs and strain in solidifyingshell were investigated. The results were that: (1) Five relatively low temperature zones exist onslab surface below the three water spraying nozzles and near the two edges, respectively, whichcorresponds to the places of centerline cracks and triangle-zone cracks. (2) Centerline cracks andtriangle-zone cracks occur because of weak secondary cooling, uneven cooling along slab width, andlarge variation of roll gap. (3) After minimizing the variation of roll gap and applying the newsecondary cooling pattern, the occurring frequency of centerline and triangle-zone cracks minimizesto zero.

Fracturing behavior of brittle solids containing 3D internal crack of different depths under ultrasonic fracturing

Ultrasonic fracturing(UF)can be used to form crack networks for oil or gas in the mining industry and hard rock excavation.In this paper,the three-dimensional internal laser-engraved crack method(3DILC)is introduced to make penny-shaped internal crack within the samples without any damage to the surfaces.Physical experiments were performed on the transparent samples with internal cracks at different depths.The macro-and micro-fracture fractography characteristics were focused on and analyzed in details.Based on fractography,the mechanisms of the UF were revealed.The propagation paths of cracks of different depths were simulated based on the Paris fatigue model and compared with experimental results.The results show that the 3D-ILC method is a powerful tool for the experimental research on the internal crack propagation in the UF.Under the action of ultrasonic field,fractography shows the characteristics of beach marks,lance-like pattern,rime-like pattern and glass powder.It can be judged that the mechanisms of UF include high cycle fatigue fracture,shear fracture,and friction.The results of the numerical simulation using the Paris fatigue model are consistent with the experimental results.

Formation of internal cracks in steel billets during soft reduction

To investigate the formation of internal cracks in steel billets during soft reduction, fully coupled thermo-mechanical finite element models were developed using the commercial software ABAQUS, also casting and soft reduction tests were carried out in a laboratory strand casting machine. With the finite element models, the temperature distribution, the stress and strain states in the billet were calculated. The relation between internal cracks and equivalent plastic strain, as well as maximal principal stress was analyzed. The results indicate that tensile stresses can develop in the mushy zone during soft reduction and the equivalent strain nearby the zero ductility temperature （ZDT） increases with decreasing solid fraction. Internal cracks can be initiated when the accumulated strain exceeds the critical strain or the applied tensile stress exceeds the critical fracture stress during solidification.

THE FULLY PLASTIC J-INTEGRAL OF CORNER CRACKS AT A HOLE IN A PLATE

The line-spring model of surface cracks is applied to the fully plastic analysis of corner cracks at a hole in a plate. The generalized fully plastic constitutive relations and the fully plastic J-integral, as well as its coefficients in polynomial expressions are given. The model obtained is incorporated into a finite element program. The corner cracks at a hole in a plate subjected pure tensions are calculated by the present model. The fully plastic J-integral is then estimated. The results obtained show that the line-spring model is effective for the analysis of corner cracks. The influence of the crack depth and the hardening exponent on the fully plastic J-integral is also discussed.

STRESS INTENSITY FACTORS FOR CORNER CRACKS AT A HOLE UNDER REMOTE TENSION

The three-dimensional weight function method recently developed by the authors is used to determine stress intensity factors for two symmetric quarter-elliptical corner cracks at a hole in a wide finite-thickness plate subjected to remote tensile loading. The geometry parameters considered are r / t = 0.5, 1, 2; a / c= 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2; a / t = 0.2, 0.5 within c/r= 2. The results are compared, where possible, with other solutions available in the literature. Generally good agreement is observed. The effect of an approximation of the two-dimensional unflawed stress distribution on the accuracy of stress intensity factors by the weight function method is discussed.

A Model for Diagnosing the Formation of Internal Cracks in Continuously CastSlabs

The internal cracks in continuously cast slabs are attributed to the excessive tensile strain occurring at the solidifying frontduring the continuous casting process. Based on the understanding, a model for diagnosing the formation of the internal cracks was established, in which the strains at the solidifying front caused by' bulging, straightening or unbending, and roll misalignment were calculated and compared with a critical strain value to estimate whether the internal cracks form. Moreover, the established model was appliedto a real slab caster to reveal the distribution of the strains in casting direction and its effect on the internal cracks. It was proved that themodel was reliable and useful for optimizing the operation of continuous casting.

Fracture of two three-dimensional parallel internal cracks in brittle solid under ultrasonic fracturing

Similar to hydraulic fracturing(HF), the coalescence and fracture of cracks are induced within a rock under the action of an ultrasonic field, known as ultrasonic fracturing(UF). Investigating UF is important in both hard rock drilling and oil and gas recovery. A three-dimensional internal laser-engraved crack(3D-ILC) method was introduced to prefabricate two parallel internal cracks within the samples without any damage to the surface. The samples were subjected to UF. The mechanism of UF was elucidated by analyzing the characteristics of fracture surfaces. The crack propagation path under different ultrasonic parameters was obtained by numerical simulation based on the Paris fatigue model and compared to the experimental results of UF. The results show that the 3D-ILC method is a powerful tool for UF research.Under the action of an ultrasonic field, the fracture surface shows the characteristics of beach marks and contains powder locally, indicating that the UF mechanism includes high-cycle fatigue fracture, shear and friction, and temperature load. The two internal cracks become close under UF. The numerical result obtained by the Paris fatigue model also shows the attraction of the two cracks, consistent with the test results. The 3D-ILC method provides a new tool for the experimental study of UF. Compared to the conventional numerical methods based on the analysis of stress-strain and plastic zone, numerical simulation can be a good alternative method to obtain the crack path under UF.

Evolution of Internal Crack in BCC Fe under Compressive Loading

A molecular dynamics model has been developed to investigate the evolution of the internal crack of nano scale during heating or compressive loading in BCC Fe. The initial configuration does not contain any pre-existing dislocations. In the case of heating, temperature shows a significant effect on crack evolution and the critical temperature at which the crack healing becomes possible is 673 K. In the case of compressive loading, the crack can be healed at 40 K at a loading rate 0.025 × 1018 Pa·m1/2/s in 6 × 10-12 s. The diffusion of Fe atoms into the crack area results in the healing process. However, dislocations and voids appear during healing and their positions change continuously.

Propagation form of internal cracks induced by continuous casting soft reduction and control strategy for internal quality

The propagation form of internal cracks induced by continuous casting soft reduction and the control strategy for enhancing the internal quality of 45 steel through industrial trials and a three-dimensional flow-heat transfer-solidification coupling model were investigated.The results showed that the internal cracks induced by soft reduction exhibited a characteristic of being"coarse in the middle and fine at both ends",and displayed an elliptical arc distribution on the loose side of the strand cross section.The cracks originated within the brittle temperature range and propagated inward to the liquid impenetrable temperature and outward to the zero ductility temperature or below.The control strategy for enhancing the internal quality of the 45 steel strand through soft reduction is to adjust the casting speed or the reduction zone appropriately,ensuring that the central solid fraction of the reduction zone falls within the range of 0.33-0.99.At this point,a reasonable reduction amount is allocated to eliminate the center shrinkage cavities and center segregation,even if it results in minor reduction-induced cracks.

Crack propagation and damage evolution of metallic cylindrical shells under internal explosive loading

This paper investigates the three-dimensional crack propagation and damage evolution process of metallic column shells under internal explosive loading.The calibration of four typical failure parameters for 40CrMnSiB steel was conducted through experiments and subsequently applied to simulations.The numerical simulation results employing the four failure criteria were compared with the differences and similarities observed in freeze-recovery tests and ultra-high-speed tests.This analysis addressed the critical issue of determining failure criteria for the fracture of a metal shell under internal explosive loads.Building upon this foundation,the damage parameter D_(c),linked to the cumulative crack density,was defined based on the evolution characteristics of a substantial number of cracks.The relationship between the damage parameter and crack velocity over time was established,and the influence of the internal central pressure on the damage parameter and crack velocity was investigated.Variations in the fracture modes were found under different failure criteria,with the principal strain failure criterion proving to be the most effective for simulating 3D crack propagation in a pure shear fracture mode.Through statistical analysis of the shell penetration fracture radius data,it was determined that the fracture radius remained essentially constant during the crack evolution process and could be considered a constant.The propagation velocity of axial cracks ranged between 5300 m/s and 12600 m/s,surpassing the Rayleigh wave velocity of the shell material and decreasing linearly with time.The increase in shell damage exhibited an initial rapid phase,followed by deceleration,demonstrating accelerated damage during the propagation stage of the blast wave and decelerated damage after the arrival of the rarefaction wave.This study provides an effective approach for investigating crack propagation and damage evolution.The derived crack propagation and damage evolution law serves as a valuable reference for the development of crack velocity theory and the construction of shell damage evolution modes.

Longitudinal corner crack of chamfered slab and optimization of mould

Chamfered mould has gradually become a new technology equipment to eliminate transverse corner crack.However,longitudinal corner crack ratio of chamfered slab was very high.Solidification microstructure was detected in the area where the longitudinal corner crack occurred.Effect of narrow face shape and taper distribution of mould copper plate on longitudinal corner crack was studied by industrial tests.Water velocity distribution in the narrow copper plate was studied by numerical simulation.On the premise of preventing cooling water from nuclear boiling,improvement measures of mould cooling process and water seam structure were put forward through heat transfer calculation.The results showed that local taper of the meniscus region of mould should be increased to prevent generation of longitudinal corner crack.Chamfering slope length of narrow copper plate should be controlled within 55 mm,and chamfering angle should be controlled at about 30°.Average water velocity should be more than 7.0 m/s.The flat and chamfering regions of narrow copper plate working face should be designed as double taper and funnel structure,respectively.The water seam in the chamfering region should preferentially choose the combined cooling structure with two holes and one slot.In order to prevent the extension of longitudinal corner crack,chamfered narrow face foot roller should be used.

Technology Development for Controlling Slab Transverse Corner Crack of Typical Micro-alloyed Steels

A mathematical model for simulating the fluid flow, heat transfer and solidification in the conventional mold and the chamfer mold, together with a finite element stress-strain model in the straightening process of both molds, were established for the typical niobium, vanadium, and titanium micro-alloyed steels. On the basis of both numerical analysis, the mold copper plate with an optimum chamfered shape was designed and applied in industrial tests. The predicted results from numerical simulation of fluid flow, heat transfer and solidification in the conven tional mold and the chamfer mold show that the increased chamfered angle leads to an approximately linear increase o[ the slab surface temperature, but it also causes strong flow near the slab corner. Very small chamfered length can lead to a significant increase of the temperature near the slab corner. However, with further increasing the chamfered length, the temperature of the slab corner increased slightly. The calculated results from the finite element analysis of stress-strain during the straightening process show that at the same slope width, the tangential strain on the slat） edges and corners is minimum when the chamfered angle is 30° and 45°, which is only 40° to 46° of rectangular slabs with the same cross-section area. At the same chamfered angle of 30°, when the chamfered length is controlled between 65-85 mm, the tangential strain on the part of the slab edges and corners is relatively smaller. Industrial test results show that the slab corner temperature at straightening segment increases about 100 ℃ by using chamfer mold compared to the conventional molds. The slab transverse corner cracks have been reduced more than 95° in comparison with those in the conventional mold.

Experimental study on 3D internal penny-shaped crack propagation in brittle materials under uniaxial compression

Fractures are widely present in geomaterials of civil engineering and deep underground engineering.Given that geomaterials are usually brittle,the fractures can significantly affect the evaluation of underground engineering construction safety and the early warning of rock failure.However,the crack initiation and propagation in brittle materials under composite loading remain unknown so far.In this study,a three-dimensional internal laser-engraved cracking technique was applied to produce internal cracks without causing damage to the surfaces.The uniaxial compression tests were performed on a brittle material with internal cracks to investigate the propagation of these internal cracks at different dip angles under compression and shear.The test results show that the wing crack propagation mainly occurs in the specimen with an inclined internal crack,which is a mixed-ModeⅠ–Ⅱ–Ⅲfracture;in contrast,ModeⅠfracture is present in the specimen with a vertical internal crack.The fractography characteristics of ModeⅢfracture display a lance-like pattern.The fracture mechanism in the brittle material under compression is that the internal wing cracks propagate to the ends of the whole sample and cause the final failure.The initial deflection angle of the wing crack is determined by the participation ratio of stress intensity factors KII to KI at the tip of the internal crack.

SAINT-VENANT’S TORSION PROBLEM FOR A COMPOSITE CIRCULAR CYLINDER WITH ANINTERNAL EDGE CRACK

In this paper the writer uses Muskhelishvili single-layer potential function solution and single crack solution for the torsion problem of a circular cylinder to discuss the torsion problem of a composite cylinder with an internal crack, and the problem is reduced to -a set of mixed-type integral equation with generalized Cauchy-kernel. Then, by using the integration formula of Gauss-Jacobi, the numerical method is established and several numerical examples are calculated. The torsional rigidity and the stress intensity factors are obtained. The results of these examples fit the results obtained by the previous papers better.

Internal crack recovery of 20MnMo steel

According to the results of physical modelling, SEM and SAM analysis of 20MnMo steel samples, internal cracks of metal parts are recoverable. The motive power of the recovery is atom diffusion and migration from matrix to voids. The recovery process consists of two steps. In the first step, the void area is filled up with a kind of metal mass, beginning from the crack tip. There are many microvoids in the mass with different microstructure from the matrix. In the second step, microvoids decrease in size and number, and the mass microstructure approaches the matrix, with the heating temperature increasing and the holding time prolonging. Recovery tests on rejected heavy forgings are successfully processed. It is believed that the recovery technique is a potential method for improving the internal quality and reducing the production loss and cost of metal products. Similar method can be used to treat other metal construction parts for rescuing them or prolonging their service life. Further research and development of recovery technique have very important theoretical and practical significance.

ON PROBLEMS OF FRACTURE OF MATERIALS IN COMPRESSION ALONG TWO INTERNAL PARALLEL CRACKS

The fracture of materials under the action of compressive forces, directed along cracks which are parallel in plane can,lot be described within the framework of the linear fracture mechanics. The criteria of fracture of the Griffith-Irvin or COC type, used in classical linear fracture mechanics, are not applicable in this problem, since these forces have no influence on stress intensity coefficients and on values of cracks opening([1, 2]). The problems of such a class may be described only by using new approaches. One of possible approaches is presented by the first author, which involves using linearized relations, derived from exact non-linear equations of deformable solid body mechanics([3, 4, 5]). It should be remarked here that this approach has been widely used in problems of deformable bodies stability. As a criterion of the initiation of fracture the criterion of local instability near defects of the crack type is used. In these cases the process of loss of stability initiates the fracture process.

Diffusive healing of internal fatigue micro-cracks in pure titanium

The internal micro cracks with the critical length about 30?μm and thickness less than 1?μm were introduced into the pure titanium samples by uniaxial tension compression low cycle fatigue method. The experimental results indicate that the internal fatigue micro crack clearly evolves from the original penny shaped crack into a string of spherical voids in the longitudinal section plane of the fatigue sample after the vacuum diffusive healing at the high temperature. The quantitative relationship between the radius and the spacing of spherical voids depends on the crack position (within grains, on grain boundaries or transgranular sites) and its orientations within the grain. The diffusive healing, the related thermodynamics and mechanism, and the effect of the surface tension anisotropy on the relationship between void diameter and void spacing are also discussed.