Fatigue Crack Propagation Law of Corroded Steel Box Girders in Long Span Bridges

In order to investigate the fatigue performance of orthotropic anisotropic steel bridge decks,this study realizes the simulation of the welding process through elastic-plastic finite element theory,thermal-structural sequential coupling,and the birth-death element method.The simulated welding residual stresses are introduced into the multiscale finite element model of the bridge as the initial stress.Furthermore,the study explores the impact of residual stress on crack propagation in the fatigue-vulnerable components of the corroded steel box girder.The results indicate that fatigue cracks at the weld toe of the top deck,the weld root of the top deck,and the opening of the transverse diaphragm will not propagate under the action of a standard vehicle load.However,the inclusion of residual stress leads to the propagation of these cracks.When considering residual stress,the fatigue crack propagation paths at the weld toe of the transverse diaphragm and the U-rib weld toe align with those observed in actual bridges.In the absence of residual stress,the cracks at the toe of the transverse diaphragm with a 15%mass loss rate are categorized as type I cracks.Conversely,when residual stress is considered,these cracks become I-II composite cracks.Residual stress significantly alters the cumulative energy release rate of the three fracturemodes.Therefore,incorporating the influence of residual stress is essential when assessing the fatigue performance of corroded steel box girders in long-span bridges.

Analysis of energy release rate for composite delaminated cylindrical shells subjected to axial compression

In this paper, the postbuckling governing equations and the analytical expression of the energy release rates associated with delamination growth in a compression-loaded cylindrical shell are derived by using the variational principle of moving boundary and the Griffith fracture criterion. The finite difference method is used to generate the postbuckling solutions of the delaminated cylindrical shells, and with these solutions, the values of the energy release rates are determined. In simulational examples, the effects of a wide range of parameters, such as delamination sizes and depths, boundary conditions, geometrical parameters, material properties and laminate stacking sequences on the energy release rates of axisymmetrical laminated cylindrical shells are intensively discussed.

Release rate kinetics of corrosion inhibitor loaded halloysite nanotube-based anticorrosion coatings on magnesium alloy AZ91D

Halloysite nanotubes were used as nanocontainers to hold corrosion inhibitors such as Ce^(3+)-Zr^(4+),2-mercaptobenzothiazole and 8-hydroxyquinoline in their lumen.An acid assisted etching of the nanotubes was carried out with a view to increase the lumen diameter and thereby,increase the amount of loading of the corrosion inhibitor.The morphology of as-received and etched halloysite nanotubes was ob-served using TEM analysis.The loading of corrosion inhibitors was confirmed using SEM-EDS and BET analysis.Polymeric microcapsules were used as capping agents for the ends of the loaded HNTs following which,they were dispersed into a hybrid sol-gel silica matrix.Dip coating method was used to generate coatings on AZ91D substrates followed by heat treatment at 130℃ for 1 h.The release rate kinetics of corrosion inhibitors from as-received and etched nanotubes was investigated in buffer solutions of 3.5 wt%NaCl at different pH.The release mechanism of corrosion inhibitors from the HNT lumen was validated using various semi-empirical models.Coatings were also evaluated for their corrosion protection ability using electrochemical techniques after exposure to 3.5 wt%NaCl solution for 120 h.Coatings generated using Ce^(3+)-Zr^(4+)loaded into as-received halloysite nanotubes have shown more effective corrosion protection when compared to other corrosion inhibitors after 120 h exposure to the corrosive medium.

The energy release rate for hygrothermal coupling elastic materials

In the fracture problems of hydrophilic elastic materials under coupling effects of heat conduction, moisture diffusion and mechanical deformation, the conventional J-integral is no longer path independent. The value of J is unequal to the energy release rate in hygrothermal coupling cases. In the present paper, we derived a general form of the energy release rate for hygrothermal fracture problems of the hydrophilic elastic materials on the basis of energy balance equation in cracked areas. By introducing the constitutive relations and the essential equations of irreversible thermodynamics, a specific expression of the energy release rate was obtained, and the expression can be reformmulated as path independent integrals, which is equivalent to the energy release rate of the fracture body. The path independence of the integrals is then verified numerically.

ANALYSIS OF ENERGY RELEASE RATE FOR CRACKED LAMINATES

An interface crack analysis is presented for further understanding the characteristics of the crack-tip field. The conditions under which the energy release rate components would exist are emphasized and the relations between energy release rate components and the stress intensity factors are given. Combining with the results of chasical plate theory analysis. a closed-form solution for stress intensity factors in terms of external loading as well as some geometric and material parameters for fairly general composite laminates is derived Then. an analytical solution for energy release rate components is deduced. In order to get energy release rate components under general loading condition. a mode mix parameter, Ω, must be determined separately. A methodology for determining Ω is discussed. Finally. several different kinds of laminates are examined and the results obtained could be used in engineering applications.

RESEARCH FOR THE STRAIN ENERGY RELEASE RATE OF COMPLEX CRACKS BY USING POINT-BY-POINT CLOSED EXTRAPOLATION APPROACH

A new extrapolation approach was proposed to calculate the strain energy release rates of complex cracks. The point_by_point closed method was used to calculate the closed energy, thus the disadvantage of self_inconsistency in some published papers can be avoided. The disadvantage is that the closed energy is repeatedly calculated: when closed nodal number along radial direction is more than two, the displacement of nodes behind the crack tip that is multiplied by nodal forces, the closed energy has been calculated and the crack surfaces have been closed, and that closed energy of middle point is calculated repeatedly. A DCB (double cantilever beam) specimen was calculated and compared with other theoretical results, it is shown that a better coincidence is obtained. In addition the same results are also obtained for compact tension specimen, three point bend specimen and single edge cracked specimen. In comparison with theoretical results,the error can be limited within 1 per cent. This method can be extended to analyze the fracture of composite laminates with various delamination cracks.

Zn ^(2+) Release Performance in Simulated Uterine Solution and Surface Characteristics of ZnO/LDPE Nanocomposites

Zinc oxide/low-density polyethylene （LDPE） nanocomposites were prepared for intrauterine devices. The change of Zn^2＋ release rates of nanocomposites （ doped with various mass fractions of zinc oxide nanoparticles between 5wt% and 65 wt% ） for 264 days in a simulated uterine solution were investigated. The resuits show that initial burst phases are followed by near zero-order release phases. SEM technique was employed to observe the surface morphology of the 45wt% ZnO/ LDPE composite. Elements and phases on the surface of the nanocomposite after incubation were also analyzed by EDX and XRD respectively. The experimental results show that incrustation formation does not occur after incubation.

ON CRACK-TIP STRAIA ENERGY RELEASE RATE IN NON-PRINCIPAL DIRECTIONS OF ELASTICITY FOR SIMPLE LAYER PLATE OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS

In this paper, the fracture problem in non-principal directions of elasticity for a simple layer plate of linear-elastic orthotropic composite materials is studied. The formulae of transformation between characteristic roots, coefficients of elastic compliances in non-principal directions of elasticity and corresponding parameters in principal directions of elasticity are derived. Then, the computing formulae of strain energy release rate under skew-symmetric loading in terms of engineering parameters for principal directions of elasticity are obtained by substituting crack-tip stresses and displacements into the basic formula of the strain energy release rate.

Energy Release Rate Measurement of Welded Bamboo Joints

Double cantilever beam tests were used to measure the energy release rates of linear vibrational welded moso bamboo joints.The influence of the length of the preserved cracks,the different combinations of the inner and outer bamboo surfaces and the moisture content is studied herein.The experimental compliance method,which is based on linear elastic fracture mechanics and has been shown to be an ideal method,was used to analyze data with the power equation.The results show that the preserved initial crack length does not have a significant effect on the final measured energy release rate,while the moso bamboo combination does affect the properties dramatically.The welded moso bamboo joints with inner-inner surfaces have the highest energy release rate of 122 J/m^2.The average energy release of the outer-outer combination was only 102 J/m^2.The expansion of the cracks also became easier when the moisture content of the welded joints was 18.5%compared to 4.5% and 10.1%.So the moisture resistance of the welded joints should be duly improved.

Study on In Vivo Release of Levonorgestrel-containing Silicon Capsule

The in vivo release rate of levonorgestrel-containing silicon capsule (in vitro releasing rate: 6 μg/d) placed in rabbits was determined.The results showed that the average release per year was 8. 32 μg with r being 0.96000.The release pattern of the levonorgestrel-containing silicon capsule system was proved to be zero-order release. Our study provided some experimental data for clinical use of the system for birth control.

Effect of Delay Released Welan Gum on the Performance of Cement Mortar

Welan gum is widely applied in environmental admixtures due to its good thickening and rheological properties. With its powerful charge density in the molecular structure, the competitive adsorption between welan gum and other admixtures happened remarkably during the addition process. So controlling the releasing rate of welan gum will be able to improve the competitive adsorption, while having no disadvantages to its thickening and workability at the same time. The investigation of influences of the delay released welan gum（DRWG） on the fluidity and strength of cement mortar, bleeding rate and rheological properties of cement paste, adsorption amount and zeta potential of clinker single mineralogical phases, shows that there will be a better mortar workability and certain improvement in mortar strength with DRWG. For mortar with DRWG, the standing bleeding rate is 0, and there is less thixotropic, less adsorption, and a lower zeta potential value on the surface of clinker mineralogical phases.

Delamination growth for composite laminated cylindrical shells under external pressure

The delamination growth may occur in delaminated cylindrical shells＇under external pressure. This will lead to failure of structure. By using the variational principle of moving boundary and considering the contact effect between delamination regions, in this work, the delamination growth was investigated for cylindrical shells under the action of external pressure. At the same time, according to the Griffith criterion, the formulas of energy release rate along the delamination front were obtained. In the numerical calculation, the delamination growth of axisymmetrical laminated cylindrical shells was analyzed, and the effects of delamination sizes and depths, the geometrical parameters, the material properties, and the laminate stacking sequences on delamination growth were discussed.

Research on the energy evolution characteristics and the failure intensity of rocks

It is pretty challenging and difficult to quantitatively evaluate the intensity of dynamic disasters in deep mining engineering.Based on the uniaxial loading-unloading experiments for five types of rocks,this paper investigated the energy evolution characteristics,and identified the damage and crack propagation thresholds.Also,the fragment size distributions of the rocks after failure were analyzed.The energy release rate(Ge)and energy dissipation rate(Gd)were then proposed to describe the change of energies per unit volume and per unit strain.Results demonstrated that the more brittle rocks had the shorter stage of unstable crack growth and the lower induced damage at crack damage thresholds.The evolution characteristics of the strain energy rates can be easily identified by the crack propagation thresholds.The failure intensity index(FId),which equals to the values of Ge/Gd at the failure point,was further put forth.It can account for the brittleness of the rocks,the intensity of rock failure as well as the degree of rock fragmentation.It was revealed that a higher FId corresponded to a lower fractal dimension and stronger dynamic failure.

Nonlinear progressive damage model for composite laminates used for low-velocity impact

In order to effectively describe the progressively intralaminar and interlam- inar damage for composite laminates, a three dimensional progressive damage model for composite laminates to be used for low-velocity impact is presented. Being applied to three-dimensional （3D） solid elements and cohesive elements, the nonlinear damage model can be used to analyze the dynamic performance of composite structure and its failure be- havior. For the intralaminar damage, as a function of the energy release rate, the damage model in an exponential function can describe progressive development of the damage. For the interlaminar damage, the damage evolution is described by the framework of the continuum mechanics through cohesive elements. Coding the user subroutine VUMAT of the finite element software ABAQUS/Explicit, the model is applied to an example, i.e., carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composite laminates under low-velocity impact. It is shown that the prediction of damage and deformation agrees well with the experimental results.

FRACTURE ANALYSIS OF A FUNCTIONALLY GRADED STRIP UNDER PLANE DEFORMATION

In this paper the plane elasticity problem for a functionally graded strip containing a crack is considered. It is assumed that the reciprocal of the shear modulus is a linear function of the thickness-coordinate, while the Possion＇s ratio keeps constant. By utilizing the Fourier transformation technique and the transfer matrix method, the mixed boundary problem is reduced to a system of singular integral equations that are solved numerically. The influences of the geometric parameters and the graded parameter on the stress intensity factors and the strain energy release rate are investigated. The numerical results show that the graded parameters, the thickness of the strip and the crack size have significant effects on the stress intensity factors and the strain energy release rate.

Anti-plane problem of nano-cracks emanating from a regular hexagonal nano-hole in one-dimensional hexagonal piezoelectric quasicrystals

By constructing a new conformal mapping function, we study the surface effects on six edge nano-cracks emanating from a regular hexagonal nano-hole in one-dimensional (1D) hexagonal piezoelectric quasicrystals under anti-plane shear. Based on the Gurtin–Murdoch surface/interface model and complex potential theory, the exact solutions of phonon field, phason field and electric field are obtained. The analytical solutions of the stress intensity factor of the phonon field, the stress intensity factor of the phason field, the electric displacement intensity factor and the energy release rate are given. The interaction effects of the nano-cracks and nano-hole on the stress intensity factor of the phonon field, the stress intensity factor of the phason field and the electric displacement intensity factor are discussed in numerical examples. It can be seen that the surface effect leads to the coupling of phonon field, phason field and electric field. With the decrease of cavity size, the influence of surface effect is more obvious.

Elastic analysis of a mode Ⅱ crack in an icosahedral quasicrystal

Based on the displacement potential functions, the elastic analysis of a mode Ⅱ crack in an icosahedral quasicrystal is performed by using the Fourier transform and dual integral equation theory. By the solution, the analytic expressions for the displacement field and stress field are obtained. The asymptotic behaviours of the phonon and phason stress fields around the crack tip indicate that the stresses near the crack tip exhibit a square root singularity. The most important physical quantities of fracture theory, crack stress intensity factor and energy release rate, are evaluated in an explicit version.

Anti-plane analysis of semi-infinite crack in piezoelectric strip

Using the complex variable function method and the technique of the conformal mapping, the fracture problem of a semi-infinite crack in a piezoelectric strip is studied under the anti-plane shear stress and the in-plane electric load. The analytic solutions of the field intensity factors and the mechanical strain energy release rate are presented under the assumption that the surface of the crack is electrically impermeable. When the height of the strip tends to infinity, the analytic solutions of an infinitely large piezoelectric solid with a semi-infinite crack are obtained. Moreover, the present results can be reduced to the well-known solutions for a purely elastic material in the absence of the electric loading. In addition, numerical examples are given to show the influences of the loaded crack length, the height of the strip, and the applied mechanical/electric loads on the mechanical strain energy release rate.

MICROMECHANICAL DAMAGE MODEL FOR ROCKS AND CONCRETES SUBJECTED TO COUPLED TENSILE AND SHEAR STRESSES

Based on the analysis of the deformation in an infinite isotropic elastic matrix with an embedded elliptic crack under far field coupled tensile and shear stresses, the energy release rate and a mixed fracture criterion are obtained using an energy balance approach. The additional compliance tensor induced by a single opening elliptic microcrack in a representative volume element is derived, and the effect of microcracks with random orientations is analyzed with the Taylor＇s scheme by introducing an appropriate probability density function. A micromechanical damage model for rocks and concretes is obtained and is verified with experimental results.

Exact solutions of two semi-infinite collinear cracks in piezoelectric strip

Using the complex variable function method and the conformal mapping technique, the fracture problem of two semi-infinite collinear cracks in a piezoelectric strip is studied under the anti-plane shear stress and the in-plane electric load on the partial crack surface. Analytic solutions of the field intensity factors and the mechanical strain energy release rate are derived under the assumption that the surfaces of the crack are electrically impermeable. The results can be reduced to the well-known solutions for a purely elastic material in the absence of an electric load. Moreover, when the distance between the two crack tips tends to infinity, analytic solutions of a semi-infinite crack in a piezoelectric strip can be obtained. Numerical examples are given to show the influence of the loaded crack length, the height of the strip, the distance between the two crack tips, and the applied mechanical/electric loads on the mechanical strain energy release rate. It is shown that the material is easier to fail when the distance between two crack tips becomes shorter, and the mechanical/electric loads have greater influence on the propagation of the left crack than those of the right one.