Assessment of cyclic deformation and critical stress amplitude of jointed rocks via cyclic triaxial testing

Jointed rock specimens with a natural replicated joint surface oriented at a mean dip angle of 60were prepared,and a series of cyclic triaxial tests was performed at different confining pressures and cyclic deviatoric stress amplitudes.The samples were subjected to 10,000 loading-unloading cycles with a frequency of 8 Hz.At each level of confining pressure,the applied cyclic deviatoric stress amplitude was increased incrementally until excessive deformation of the jointed rock specimen was observed.Analysis of the test results indicated that there existed a critical cyclic deviatoric stress amplitude(i.e.critical dynamic deviatoric stress)beyond which the jointed rock specimens yielded.The measured critical dynamic deviatoric stress was less than the corresponding static deviatoric stress.At cyclic deviatoric stress amplitudes less than the critical dynamic deviatoric stress,minor cumulative residual axial strains were observed,resulting in hysteretic damping.However,for cyclic deviatoric stresses beyond the critical dynamic deviatoric stress,the plastic strains increased promptly,and the resilient moduli degraded rapidly during the initial loading cycles.Cyclic triaxial test results showed that at higher confining pressures,the ultimate residual axial strain attained by the jointed rock specimen decreased,the steadystate dissipated energy density and steady-state damping ratio per load cycle decreased,while steadystate resilient moduli increased.

A fatigue damage model for rock salt considering the effects of loading frequency and amplitude

With the large-scale construction of underground gas storage in salt deposit, much more efforts have been made to assess the fatigue properties of rock salt. The fatigue damage processes the primary, steady,and accelerated phases, which is similar to the axial irrecoverable deformation compiled from the loci of the loading cycles of rock salt. The cumulative fatigue damage increases with a decrease in the loading frequency and with an increase in the stress amplitude within the range tested. To take into account the effects of loading frequency and amplitude on the fatigue behavior of rock salt subjected to cyclic loading, a low cycle fatigue damage model was exclusively established combined with the Manson–Coffin formula. The proposed damage evolution equation was validated with experimental results and proved to be efficient in the prediction of fatigue damage tendency of rock salt under different loading frequencies and amplitudes.

Dynamic Stress Analysis of the Leg Joints of Self-Elevating Platform

Since a self-elevating platform often works in water for a long time, the lattice leg is largely influenced by wave and current. The amplitude of leg joint stresses is a very important factor for the fatigue life of the platform. However, there are not many researches having been done on the mechanism and dynamic stress analysis of these leg joints. This paper focuses on the dynamic stress analysis and suppression methods of the leg joints of self-elevating platforms. Firstly, the dynamic stresses of the lattice leg joints are analyzed for a self-elevating platform by use of the 5th-order Stokes wave theory. Secondly, the axial and bending stresses are studied due to their large contributions to total stresses. And then, different joint types are considered and the leg-hull interface stiffness is analyzed for the improvement of the joint dynamic stress amplitude. Finally, some useful conclusions are drawn for the optimization design of the self-elevating platform.

Experimental study on uniaxial ratchetting-fatigue interaction of extruded AZ31 magnesium alloy with different plastic deformation mechanisms

The uniaxial ratchetting-fatigue interaction of extruded AZ31 magnesium(Mg)alloy is investigated by uniaxial stress-controlled cyclic tests at room temperature and with addressing the roles of different plastic deformation mechanisms.Different stress levels are prescribed to reflect the cyclic plasticity of the alloy controlled by diverse deformation mechanisms(i.e.,dislocation slipping,deformation twinning and detwinning ones),and then the influences of stress level and stress rate on the ratchetting and fatigue life are discussed.The experimental results demonstrate that different evolution characteristics of whole-life ratchetting and fatigue life presented during cyclic tests with various mean stresses,stress amplitudes and stress rates are determined by the dominated plastic deformation mechanisms.It’s worth noting that the ratchetting can occur in the compressive direction even in the cyclic tests with a positive(tensile)mean stress,and the fatigue life increases first and then decreases with the increase of mean stress on account of the interaction between dislocation slipping and twinning/detwinning mechanisms.Comparing the fatigue lives obtained in the asymmetric stress-controlled and symmetrical strain-controlled cycle tests,it is seen that the ratchetting deformation causes an additional damage,and then leads to a shortening of fatigue life.

Development of inflow turbulence in microscale urban atmospheric environment

The sensitivity of turbulence-development to inflow turbulent statistics is investigated in microscale urban atmospheric environment flows. Large-eddy simulations （LESs） are carried out, in which the inflow error is brought in by transforming a fully developed turbulent field according to the Reynolds stress or energy spectra. A theoretical analysis is performed by neglecting the diffusion term in the budget equations of the turbulent kinetic energy. The results show that, （i） the error caused by the Reynolds stress decays until the fully developed level is achieved, and （ii） the error caused by the characteristic length scale increases immediately and then decreases. The streamwise changing rate of the inflow error weakens when the vertical coordinate increases. Further testing of the effects of the inflow inner- and outer-layer data shows that, the inflow inner- layer data dominate the near field, and the inflow outer-layer data dominate the far field.

The influence of nanosized precipitates on Portevin-Le Chatelier bands and surface roughness in AlMgScZr alloy

The influence of different precipitate-dislocation interactions,namely dislocation shearing and bypassing mechanisms,on PLC bands and the resultant surface roughness in AlMgScZr alloy was investigated.Three-dimensional surface roughness was quantitatively measured by confocal microscopy.We find that the introduction of shearable precipitates increases the stress amplitude,decreases the PLC bands number and surface roughness.However,the stress amplitude decreases,the PLC bands number and surface roughness increase with shearable precipitates turning to nonshearable precipitates.By analyzing the precipitation strengthening mechanisms quantitatively,the influence of precipitates on PLC bands and the resultant surface roughness was explored.Furthermore,our study demonstrates that the shearable precipitates can decrease the surface roughness by decreasing the number of PLC bands,which is instructive for designing structural materials with desirable mechanical property and surface quality.

A pathway to improve low-cycle fatigue life of face-centered cubic metals via grain boundary engineering

To probe a pathway to improve the low-cycle fatigue life of face-centered cubic(FCC)metals via grain boundary engineering(GBE),the tension-tension fatigue tests were carried out on the non-GBE and GBE Cu-16 at.%Al alloys at relatively high stress amplitudes.The results indicate that the cyclic strain localiza-tion and cracking at grain boundaries(GBs)can be effectively suppressed,especially at increased stress amplitude,by an appropriate GBE treatment that can result in a higher resistance to GB cracking and a greater capability of compatible deformation.Therefore,the sensitivity of fatigue life to stress amplitude can be weakened by GBE,and the low-cycle fatigue life of Cu-16 at.%Al alloys is thus distinctly improved.