Loose Waves in Viscoelastic Cylindrical Wave Guide with Radial Crack

The main features are the length of the waveguide in one direction, as well as limitations and localization of the wave beam in other areas. There is described the technique of the solution of tasks on distribution of waves in an infinite cylindrical waveguide with a radial crack. Also numerical results are given in the article. Viscous properties of the material are taken into account by means of an integral operator Voltaire. Research is conducted in the framework of the spatial theory of visco elastic. The technique is based on the separation of spatial variables and formulates the boundary eigenvalue problem that can be solved by the method of orthogonal sweep Godunov. In the given paper we obtain numeric values of the phase velocity depending on of wave numbers. The obtained numerical results are compared with the known data. This work is continuation of article [1]. Statement of the problem and methodology of partial solutions are described in [1]. In this work, we present a complete statement of the problem, methods of solution and discuss the numerical results.

Potential Cracking in Hydrogen Plant with Light Feedstocks (Part II)

This paper presents the analysis of potential thermal cracking of light feedstocks in the SMR. Two different feedstocks, natural gas and light hydrocarbon (HC) feedstock at two different mixed feed inlet temperatures, are selected to study the HC thermal cracking. Effect of Crossover Piping Volume on feed thermal cracking is also discussed.

Very High Cycle Fatigue Behaviors and Surface Crack Growth Mechanism of Hydrogen-Embrittled AISI 304 Stainless Steels

The influence of hydrogen embrittlement on the fatigue behaviors of AISI 304 stainless steel is investigated. The fatigue endurance limits of the untreated and hydrogen-embrittled materials were almost the same at 400 MPa, and hydrogen embrittlement had little influence even though the sample contained about 8.1 times more hydrogen. Thus, the sensitivity of hydrogen gas in this material is very low. A surface crack initiation, growth, coalescence, and micro ridge model is proposed in this study. Slip line formation?⇒microcrack formation?⇒increases in the crack width, and blunting of the crack tip as it grows?⇒formation of many slip lines because of deformation in the shear direction?⇒growth of the crack in the shear direction, forming micro ridges, coalescence with adjacent cracks ⇒?continuous initiation, growth, coalescence, and ridge formation of surface cracks and specimen breakage.

Anti-plane Analysis of a Circular Hole withThree Unequal Cracks in One-dimensionalHexagonal Piezoelectric Quasicrystals

This paper employes variable function method and the technique of conformal mappingto discuss the anti-plane problem of a circular hole with three unequal cracksin a one-dimensional （1D） hexagonal piezoelectric quasicrystal. Based on the piezoelectricityfundamental equations of quasicrystal materials and the symmetry of1D hexagonal quasicrystal and its linear piezoelectricity effect, 1D hexagonal quasicrystalcontrol equations of anti-plane problem are derived. Applying Cauchyintegral formula, the analytical expressions for the crack tip filed intensity factorsare presented with the assumption that the crack are electrical impermeable andelectrical permeable. With the variation of the hole-size and the crack length, someof the new model of crack are obtained. In the absence of the electric load, theresults match with the classical ones. The numerical results indicate the effects ofgeometric parameters on the field intensity factors. It is verified that the horizontalcrack length and the circle radius can easily promote crack growth. Researchon such issues will provide reliable theoretical value for the engineering materialspreparation and application.

Optimization of Fairhurst-Cook Model for 2-D Wing Cracks Using Ant Colony Optimization (ACO), Particle Swarm Intelligence (PSO), and Genetic Algorithm (GA)

The common failure mechanism for brittle rocks is known to be axial splitting which happens parallel to the direction of maximum compression. One of the mechanisms proposed for modelling of axial splitting is the sliding crack or so called, “wing crack” model. Fairhurst-Cook model explains this specific type of failure which starts by a pre-crack and finally breaks the rock by propagating 2-D cracks under uniaxial compression. In this paper, optimization of this model has been considered and the process has been done by a complete sensitivity analysis on the main parameters of the model and excluding the trends of their changes and also their limits and “peak points”. Later on this paper, three artificial intelligence algorithms including Particle Swarm Intelligence (PSO), Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) and genetic algorithm (GA) has been used and compared in order to achieve optimized sets of parameters resulting in near-maximum or near-minimum amounts of wedging forces creating a wing crack.

Spline Fictitious Boundary Element Alternating Method for Edge Crack Problems with Mixed Boundary Conditions

The alternating method based on the fundamental solutions of the infinite domain containing a crack,namely Muskhelishvili’s solutions,divides the complex structure with a crack into a simple model without crack which can be solved by traditional numerical methods and an infinite domain with a crack which can be solved by Muskhelishvili’s solutions.However,this alternating method cannot be directly applied to the edge crack problems since partial crack surface of Muskhelishvili’s solutions is located outside the computational domain.In this paper,an improved alternating method,the spline fictitious boundary element alternating method(SFBEAM),based on infinite domain with the combination of spline fictitious boundary element method(SFBEM)and Muskhelishvili’s solutions is proposed to solve the edge crack problems.Since the SFBEM and Muskhelishvili’s solutions are obtained in the framework of infinite domain,no special treatment is needed for solving the problem of edge cracks.Different mixed boundary conditions edge crack problems with varies of computational parameters are given to certify the high precision,efficiency and applicability of the proposed method compared with other alternating methods and extend finite element method.

Crack Detection and Localization on Wind Turbine Blade Using Machine Learning Algorithms: A Data Mining Approach

Wind turbine blades are generally manufactured using fiber type material because of their cost effectiveness and light weight property however,blade get damaged due to wind gusts,bad weather conditions,unpredictable aerodynamic forces,lightning strikes and gravitational loads which causes crack on the surface of wind turbine blade.It is very much essential to identify the damage on blade before it crashes catastrophically which might possibly destroy the complete wind turbine.In this paper,a fifteen tree classification based machine learning algorithms were modelled for identifying and detecting the crack on wind turbine blades.The models are built based on computing the vibration response of the blade when it is excited using piezoelectric accelerometer.The statistical,histogram and ARMA methods for each algorithm were compared essentially to suggest a better model for the identification and localization of crack on wind turbine blade.

Compensation of stress intensity factors in hollow cylinders containing several cracks under torsion by electro-elastic coating

In this article, a formulation for a hollow cylinder reinforced with an electroelastic layer is investigated. The hollow cylinder and its electro-elastic coating are under the Saint-Venant torsional loading. First, the solution to the problem containing a Volterra-type screw dislocation is obtained by using the Fourier transform. The problem is then reduced to a set of Cauchy singular integral equations by the distributed dislocation method. Finally, several examples are presented to show the effect of the electro-elastic coating on the reduction of the stress intensity factors at the crack tips.

The Influence of Ceramic Coating on Fatigue Crack Growth Behaviour of X17CrNi15-2 Stainless Steel

Fatigue crack growth tests were carried out on the SEN B3 precracked specimens, with dimensions in accordance with ISO 12108 requirements. The specimens were made of martensitic stainless steel, X17CrNi15-2, and some of them were modified by the ceramic coating deposition surface treatment. The effects of ceramic coating, on the fatigue crack growth behaviour of hollow shaft specimens, were experimentally investigated. Fatigue crack growth rates, da/dN, were characterised, using the power law relationship between da/dN (in mm/cycle) and the stress intensity factor range, ΔK (in MPa∙m0.5). The two constants of the correlation are 7.9768 × 10−9 and 2.8107 for the parent material, and those for the coated material are 2.4391 × 10−9 and 3.1990, respectively. Microstructural analyses were carried out on the tested specimens, which shows that the maximum hardness of the ceramic coating is higher than that of substrate by a factor of ~3.2. The dimple fracture dominates the final fracture mechanism for the parent material, and the combination of fatigue, ductile fracture and cleavage dominates the final fracture mechanism for the coated material, based on the SEM analyses. EDS tests’ results reveal that the parent material specimen shows higher levels of C at matrix regions along with Fe- and O-rich regions, compared with the coated material specimen.

The Effect of Atmospheric Plasma Paint Stripping on the Fatigue Crack Growth Properties of Aluminium Substrates

Paint removal is a common maintenance requirement for aircraft as well as naval and land vehicles, since external paint gets damaged and loses much of its corrosion protection effectiveness with time. Paint removal is also conducted when metallic aircraft structures are inspected periodically for fatigue cracks and corrosion. The conventional methods of removing paint employed throughout the Canadian Forces mainly include chemical stripping and abrasive media blasting. Chemical stripping involves the use of hazardous chemicals, which are high in Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) and Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAP). Abrasive media blasting typically results in a substantial quantity of solid waste consisting of paint and blast residues. Such waste is subject to control under increasingly stringent environmental and safety regulations and its disposal is costly. The new Atmospheric Plasma (AP) paint removal process purports to be a high chemical energy, low thermal energy (cold plasma process), that should not damage temperature sensitive substructures, such as heat treated aerospace aluminium alloys. Fatigue strength is one of the key properties in aircraft structures. In order for AP paint stripping to be accepted as an aerospace industry standard paint removal process, it must be thoroughly tested to demonstrate that it does not adversely affect the fatigue properties of the substrate. This paper investigates effect of the paint removal process on fatigue crack growth of 7075-T6 and 2024-T3 aluminium panels.

A linearly-independent higher-order extended numerical manifold method and its application to multiple crack growth simulation

The numerical manifold method(NMM)can be viewed as an inherent continuous-discontinuous numerical method,which is based on two cover systems including mathematical and physical covers.Higher-order NMM that adopts higher-order polynomials as its local approximations generally shows higher precision than zero-order NMM whose local approximations are constants.Therefore,higherorder NMM will be an excellent choice for crack propagation problem which requires higher stress accuracy.In addition,it is crucial to improve the stress accuracy around the crack tip for determining the direction of crack growth according to the maximum circumferential stress criterion in fracture mechanics.Thus,some other enriched local approximations are introduced to model the stress singularity at the crack tip.Generally,higher-order NMM,especially first-order NMM wherein local approximations are first-order polynomials,has the linear dependence problems as other partition of unit(PUM)based numerical methods does.To overcome this problem,an extended NMM is developed based on a new local approximation derived from the triangular plate element in the finite element method(FEM),which has no linear dependence issue.Meanwhile,the stresses at the nodes of mathematical mesh(the nodal stresses in FEM)are continuous and the degrees of freedom defined on the physical patches are physically meaningful.Next,the extended NMM is employed to solve multiple crack propagation problems.It shows that the fracture mechanics requirement and mechanical equilibrium can be satisfied by the trial-and-error method and the adjustment of the load multiplier in the process of crack propagation.Four numerical examples are illustrated to verify the feasibility of the proposed extended NMM.The numerical examples indicate that the crack growths simulated by the extended NMM are in good accordance with the reference solutions.Thus the effectiveness and correctness of the developed NMM have been validated.

Characterization of alpine meadow surface crack and its correlation with root-soil properties

Quantifying surface cracks in alpine meadows is a prerequisite and a key aspect in the study of grassland crack development.Crack characterization indices are crucial for the quantitative characterization of complex cracks,serving as vital factors in assessing the degree of cracking and the development morphology.So far,research on evaluating the degree of grassland degradation through crack characterization indices is rare,especially the quantitative analysis of the development of surface cracks in alpine meadows is relatively scarce.Therefore,based on the phenomenon of surface cracking during the degradation of alpine meadows in some regions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,we selected the alpine meadow in the Huangcheng Mongolian Township,Menyuan Hui Autonomous County,Qinghai Province,China as the study area,used unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)sensing technology to acquire low-altitude images of alpine meadow surface cracks at different degrees of degradation(light,medium,and heavy degradation),and analyzed the representative metrics characterizing the degree of crack development by interpreting the crack length,length density,branch angle,and burrow(rat hole)distribution density and combining them with in situ crack width and depth measurements.Finally,the correlations between the crack characterization indices and the soil and root parameters of sample plots at different degrees of degradation in the study area were analyzed using the grey relation analysis.The results revealed that with the increase of degradation,the physical and chemical properties of soil and the mechanical properties of root-soil composite changed significantly,the vegetation coverage reduced,and the root system aggregated in the surface layer of alpine meadow.As the degree of degradation increased,the fracture morphology developed from"linear"to"dendritic",and eventually to a complex and irregular"polygonal"pattern.The crack length,width,depth,and length density were identified as the crack characterization indices via analysis of variance.The results of grey relation analysis also revealed that the crack length,width,depth,and length density were all highly correlated with root length density,and as the degradation of alpine meadows intensified,the underground biomass increased dramatically,forming a dense layer of grass felt,which has a significant impact on the formation and expansion of cracks.

Effect of Waste Oil-Cracking Catalyst Incorporation on Durability of Mortars

This paper presents research on transport properties and alkali-silica reaction (ASR) susceptibility of mortars containing a pozzolanic waste generated in the fluid catalytic cracking (wFCC) unit by the Portuguese oil-refinery. For this purpose, two series of mortars were prepared by partially replacing cement with 5%, 10% and 15% of wFCC catalyst. The main difference between the two series of mortars is the sand reactivity used in their composition. The results revealed that wFCC catalyst blended cement mortars exhibit an increased resistance against capillary water absorption and chloride migration, as well as a considerable inhibition effect on deleterious ASR expansion. However, under the adopted experimental conditions the incorporation of wFCC catalyst in mortars decreases their carbonation resistance.

Using Extended Finite Element Method for Computation of the Stress Intensity Factor, Crack Growth Simulation and Predicting Fatigue Crack Growth in a Slant-Cracked Plate of 6061-T651 Aluminum

The 6061-T651 aluminium alloy is one of the most common aluminium alloys for marine components and general structures. The stress intensity factor (SIF) is an important parameter for estimating the life of the cracked structure. In this paper, the stress intensity factors of a slant-cracked plate, which is made of 6061-T651 aluminum, have been calculated using extended finite element method (XFEM) and finite element method (FEM) in ABAQUS software and the results were compared with theoretical values. Numerical values obtained from these two methods were close to the theoretical values. In simulations of crack growth at different crack angles, the crack propagation angle values were closer to the theoretical values in XFEM method. Also, the accuracy and validity of fatigue crack growth curve were much closer to the theoretical graph in XFEM than the FEM. Therefore, in this paper the capabilities of XFEM were realized in analyzing issues such as cracks.

Elastoplastic analysis for infinite plate with centric crack loaded by two pairs of point shear forces

The near crack line analysis method was used to investigate a crack loaded by two pairs of point shear forces in an infinite plate in an elastic-perfectly plastic solid, and the analytical solution was obtained. The solutions include: the unit normal vector of the elastic-plastic boundary near the crack line, the elastic-plastic stress fields near crack line, law that the length of the plastic zone along the crack line is varied with an external loads, and the bearing capacity of an infinite plate with a center crack loaded by two pairs of point shear forces. The results are sufficiently precise near the crack line because the assumptions of the small scale yielding theory have not been made and no other assumption have been taken.

The Effect of the pH of Ammonum Nitrate Solution on the Susceptability of Mild Steel to Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC) and General Corrosion

This work investigates the relative aggressiveness of nitrate solutions at different pH values on mild steel towards stress corrosion cracking (SCC) and general corrosion. Electrochemical behavior and stress corrosion cracking sus-ceptibility measurements were carried out in 52 Wt% ammonium nitrate solutions at 368° K and various pH values ranging from 0.77 to 9.64. Constant load stress corrosion test at 90% yield stress was conducted. Tested specimens were prepared and examined using the scanning electron microscope (SEM). The potentiodynamic polarization curves for different pH values again emphasized the validity of the gravimetric measurements and hence the mechanism of cracking was attributed to the stress that assisted the dissolution process.

Dynamic experimental study on rock meso-cracks growth by digital image processing technique

A new meso-mechanical testing scheme based on SEM was developed to carry out the experiment of microfracturing process of rocks. The microfracturing process of the pre-crack marble sample on surrounding rock in the immerged Long-big tunnel in Jinping Cascade II Hydropower Station under uniaxial compression was recorded by using the testing scheme. According to the stereology theory, the propagation and coalescent of cracks at meso-scale were quantitatively investigated with digital technology. Therefore, the basic geometric information of rock microcracks such as area, angle, length, width, perimeter, was obtained from binary images after segmentation. The failure mechanism of specimen under uniaxial compression with the quantitative information was studied from macro and microscopic point of view. The results show that the image of microfracturing process of the specimen can be observed and recorded digitally. During the damage of the specimen, the distribution of microcracks in the specimen is still subjected to exponential distribution with some microcracks concentrated in certain regions. Finally, the change law of the fractal dimension of the local element in marble sample under different external load conditions is obtained by means of the statistical calculation of the fractal dimension.

Influence of Microstructures and Residual Stress on Fatigue Crack Propagation Rate of High Carbon Steels

The cold-work tool steels T10A and GCr15 have been studied with regard to the influence of austenitization temperature, tempering temperature and the residual stress on the crack propagation rate and the critical crack length. The kinds of fracture morphology have been studied too. The crack propagation rate is dependent strongly on the austenitization temperature, the tempering temperature and the surface compressional residual stress in specimens.

Influence of non-dimensional strength parameters on the seismic stability of cracked slopes

Cracks in rock or soil slopes influence the stability and durability of the slopes. Seismic forces can trigger slope disasters, particularly in the cracked slopes. Considering the nonlinear characteristics of materials, the more generalized nonlinear failure criterion proposed by Baker is adopted. The influence of non-dimensional strength parameters on the stability of cracked slopes under earthquakes is performed using the upper bound limit analysis. The seismic displacement is calculated by adopting the logarithmic spiral failure surface according to the sliding rigid block model. Based on the existing studies, two methods for the stability analysis of cracked slopes under earthquakes are introduced: the pseudo-static method(with the factor of safety(Fs) as an evaluation index), and the displacement-based method(with the seismic displacement as an evaluation index). The pseudo-static method can only determine the instantaneous stability state of the cracked slope, yet the displacement-based methodreflects the stability variation of cracked slopes during earthquakes. The results indicate that the nondimensional strength parameters affect the factor of safety and seismic displacement of slopes significantly. The non-dimensional strength parameter(n) controlling the curvature of strength function shapes on the slope stability is affected by other parameters. Owing to cracks, the effect of non-dimensional strength parameters on seismic displacement becomes more significant.

Weldability and liquation cracking behavior of ZhS6U superalloy during electron-beam welding

The weldability of the ZhS6U nickel-based superalloy, which is prone to solidification cracking during electron-beam welding(EBW) repair processes, was investigated. The effects of two different pre-weld heat-treatment cycles on the final microstructure before and after welding were examined. Welds were made on flat coupons using an EBW machine, and the two heat-treatment cycles were designed to reduce γ′ liquation before welding. Microstructural features were also examined by optical and scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that the change in the morphology and size of the γ′ precipitates in the pre-weld heat-treatment cycles changed the ability of the superalloy to release the tensile stresses caused by the matrix phase cooling after EBW. The high hardness in the welded coupons subjected to the first heat-treatment cycle resulted in greater resistance to stress release by the base alloy, and the concentration of stress in the base metal caused liquation cracks in the heat-affected zone and solidification cracks in the weld area.