Abstract

A failure analysis of a garage door opener was conducted for determination of the cause of the failure. The analysis included visual inspections of broken parts as well as electron microscopy examinations of the fracture surface. The visual inspections showed that a bolt connected to the inner trolley of the garage opener assembly was initially fractured. Also, the results of electron microscopy examinations revealed that the broken bolt failed by fatigue damage phenomenon, due to alternating torsional stresses throughout 25 years of an operational life of the garage opener. In addition, a mathematical model corresponding to the failure mechanism was derived along the failure analysis. The model comprises of both design philosophy and fracture mechanics approaches.

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