Crack Position Research Articles

Analysis of tooth root three-dimensional fatigue crack initiation, propagation, and fatigue life for spur gear transmission

The gears in aviation gear systems are susceptible to fatigue fracture due to high-speed, heavy-load, and load alternation operating conditions. Therefore, a numerical calculation model with multiple mesh positions loading form has been proposed in this paper to analyze the fatigue crack initiation and propagation behavior, and to estimate the fatigue life of these gears. The fatigue life of the gear is determined by separately calculating the fatigue crack initiation life and the fatigue crack propagation life. The tooth root fatigue stress and the fatigue initiation life are calculated by the multi-axial fatigue life prediction method with the Smith-Watson-Topper criterion and the critical plane method. Afterwards, the tooth root stress–strain field is calculated in Finite element (FE) software and the stress intensity factors of the crack tip are calculated in three-dimensional (3D) crack analysis software. Then, the tooth root fatigue crack propagation trajectory and the fatigue crack propagation life are obtained separately. Finally, the influence mechanism of the loading conditions, the geometry parameters of gears, and the initial crack positions on the tooth root fatigue crack initiation life, propagation life, and fatigue crack propagation trajectory are analyzed, and a tooth fatigue test bench is built for verifying the crack propagation trajectory.

Strain concentration applied on crack inspection based on marker-based and homography matrix algorithm

ABSTRACT The detection and identification of ship damages have become a significant area of research. This study proposes an image-based structural crack monitoring method that marks the crack locations in the form of strain concentrations by analyzing the overall strain of the structure. Most existing studies focus on using fixed cameras for structural crack monitoring. However, during the actual operation of structures, continuous monitoring around these structures is challenging. To overcome this limitation, this paper implements the transformation from non-fixed camera images to fixed images using a marker-based approach and homography matrix algorithm. In laboratory-scale structural experiments, the algorithm is capable of locating structural crack positions by observing the behavior of strain concentration. Additionally, this study explores the application of markers in structures and verifies the capability of marker attachment methods in crack inspection.

Failure characteristics and pressure relief effectiveness of non-persistent jointed rock mass with holes

In tunnel engineering, the rock mass contains a significant number of irregularly distributed joints, and typically exhibits high energy accumulation, thereby posing a risk of rockburst occurrence. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to investigate the fracture propagation behavior in jointed rock masses and assess the impact of borehole pressure relief on mitigating rockburst occurrences for effective prevention and control measures. This paper focuses on failure characteristics and pressure relief effectiveness of non-persistent jointed rock mass with holes through laboratory testing and numerical simulation. In laboratory experiments, rock samples are prepared to include a range of crack dip angles and circular holes. Then, the crack propagation law of crack inclination and circular hole is studied by AE and DIC technology. The experimental results show that with the increase of fracture dip angle, the peak strength and energy change of the sample decrease first and then increase. Due to the existence of holes, the crack propagation direction of the original crack is changed. After drilling, the strain energy of the sample is obviously reduced, which shows that the drilling pressure relief effect is obvious, which can effectively reduce the energy accumulated inside the rock mass and reduce the risk of rockburst. Finally, the PFC numerical simulation software is used to analyze the micro-failure process and energy change law of the sample from three aspects: the relative position of cracks and holes, the diameter of boreholes and the spacing of boreholes. Further understanding of the energy dissipation law and mechanical behavior characteristics of jointed rock mass provides a reference for exploring the pressure relief effect of rock mass and preventing rockburst.

A novel damage index for crack identification of a drilling riser during deployment based on the modal vibration energy flow

Early detection of structural damage especially small cracks in marine deepwater drilling risers is of paramount importance. Small cracks are always hard to detect because of weak vibration signals if using traditional damage indices, such as natural frequencies and mode shapes including modal displacements, cross-section slopes, and curvatures. Especially when the deepwater riser is during deployment, the variable suspension riser length and strong sea environment noise make the small crack identification more difficult. To address this problem, this study formulates a new concept of damage detection by integrating the vibration energy flow theory into the vibration-based damage detection (VDD) technique. A novel damage-sensitive feature (DSF) named modal vibration energy flow (MVEF) is established for detecting and locating the small cracks in deepwater drilling risers. The capability of the approach is verified by using the same riser model and the numerical results in the literature. The sensitivities versus crack positions and depths, variable suspension riser length, and sea noise are studied in detail. Results show that the proposed index MVEF is more sensitive than the classic traditional DSFs, i.e., modal slope, modal strain (or curvature), and modal strain energy. In total, the MVEF approach can accurately identify the small cracks and is robust against noise interference, suitable for detecting and locating small cracks in the deepwater drilling riser during deployment.

Finite element analysis of macro-crack behavior in the cortical bone of a human tibia

The bone is a biological tissue that possesses a highly complicated hierarchical structure; hence, the tissue components of the bone exhibit variable mechanical proper-ties and a complex bone geometry. This is why the creation of a three-dimensional mod-el through CAD software facilitates the study of the mechanical behavior of bones. Com-bining the concepts of linear elastic fracture mechanics and finite element analysis pro-vides a practical solution to study the fracture behavior of the tibial bone. The objective of this study is to analyze the behavior of cracks in the cortical bone of the human tibia us-ing stress intensity factors in mode I, II, and III as rupture criteria to assess the bone damage response. The tibial bone is one of the most common sites for lower limb stress fractures, which pose problematic injuries. The results investigating the effect of the crack position in the bone demonstrate that the risk of crack propagation is mainly due to mode I opening and is highly favored in the distal zone compared to the middle and proximal regions, regardless of bone density. For the second case study, it is observed that regardless of the crack size, the maximum values of stress intensity factors KI are obtained in the distal zone. Regarding the effect of crack orientation, the results indicate the dominance of mode II for angles α = – 45°, 30°, 45°, leading to high values of stress intensity factors KII.

A Crack Detection Method for an Insulator Based on the Optical Frequency Domain Reflectometry Fiber Sensing System

In this paper, a method for detection of crack locations and the width of basin insulators is proposed. Based on the optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) system, the system utilizes an FBG with high feedback for strain as well as temperature, which is affixed to the surface of the tub insulator, and a common single-mode optical fiber, which is used for transmitting data and connected to the optical backscattering reflectometry interrogator. The interrogator measures the backscattered light from the FBG, which varies with temperature or strain. The method has been used to measure the location and width of several different cracks and can locate the crack position with a spatial resolution of 1 mm and measure the crack width with a resolution of 0.77 mm. The method has been used to measure the position and width of insulators. This method provides a simple and fast approach to crack detection in insulators.

Research on the propagation characteristics of multiple cracks in steel bridge joints

This study explores the morphological changes and interaction mechanisms of multiple crack propagations in steel bridge joints. Fatigue testing was conducted to determine the locations at which multiple cracks initiated and to obtain fatigue fracture surfaces with easily discernible crack propagation traces. Based on the theory of fracture mechanics, the propagation behavior of coplanar and out-of-plane cracks in joints was simulated using ABAQUS and FRANC3D joint simulation technology. The characteristics of the morphological changes were analyzed, and the interaction mechanism between different crack spacings was investigated to quantitatively characterize the relative positions at which cracks were enhanced or suppressed. The results showed that coplanar cracks exhibited different morphological trends and propagation rates in different stages of propagation. The shape of the crack front continuously changed, and the merging point that appeared during fusion rapidly expanded and evolved into a semi-elliptical crack. The fatigue life was more sensitive to the relative position of multiple cracks. In particular, the fusion of coplanar cracks significantly reduced the fatigue life, and the mutual suppression effect between heterogeneous cracks increased the fatigue life. When the ratio of coplanar crack spacing to crack length (s/2c) was less than 0.2, the crack fusion process significantly accelerated. In addition, when the a2/a1 ratio of the crack propagation depth dropped below 0.5, the suppression effect was significant. Finally, by determining the spacing between multiple cracks, the method established this study can provide a reference for the design of fatigue resistance and joint optimization.

Image-driven prediction of fatigue crack growth in metal materials via spatiotemporal neural network

This study proposes an image-driven model based on the SimVP spatiotemporal neural network (STNN) to predict the fatigue crack growth (FCG) in aluminum alloys. This methodology represents a novel usage of STNNs for FCG analysis. It does not require repetitive modeling, extensive computations, or conventional mechanical assumptions. The datasets used during this study were gathered from fatigue experiments with a variety of crack positions, angles, and load levels; they contained a total of 17,925 image frames obtained from DIC measurements. Subsequently, the displacement fields were interpolated onto uniform grids and then augmented, so they could be fitted into an STNN. The proposed method was validated using specimens with edge and central cracks subjected to loads equal to 15.0 % and 20.0 % of the ultimate load. The generalization capability of the proposed method was studied by predicting the FCG under load levels and crack angles outside the training set. In addition, its predictive capability was investigated for both short and long step sizes by employing datasets in which the image data were collected at varying intervals. The overall structural similarity index measurement values were greater than 0.968, and the root mean square errors were held within 0.025 mm. The predicted displacement fields, crack lengths, and crack growth rates agreed well with experimental measurements.

Machine learning supported ultrasonic testing for characterization of cracks in polyethylene pipes

This study aims to develop a machine learning supported ultrasonic guided wave testing (UGWT) for detection and characterization of cracks in polyethylene (PE) pipes used for natural gas distribution. Ultrasonic testing is conducted to investigate the wave-crack interaction and determine damping properties of PE pipes. Finite element models are further built with material properties fine-tuned by wave attenuation experiments combined with cross-correlation analysis between the simulated and experimental signals. A synthetic database is populated using sensed signals over a wide range of crack geometries from numerical simulations. Finally, support vector machine (SVM) models are developed with different feature selections for classification of crack geometry and the accuracy is evaluated using both simulated and experimental cases. The findings demonstrate the potential of locating the circumferential position of crack with the ring-focusing method and classifying crack geometry in PE pipes using SVM model with central frequency features.

Transient thermal fracture analysis of a honeycomb layer with a central crack

Auxetic honeycomb materials with negative Poisson’s ratio received rapidly growing attention in recent years owing to their exceptional thermomechanical properties in constructing sandwich composites. The objective of this article is to investigate the transient thermal behavior and fracture risk of a honeycomb layer with a central crack subject to a sudden thermal shock by theoretical modeling. Two different material configurations along both orthogonal directions, as well as the conventional and auxetic hexagonal alumina honeycomb cells, are examined to illustrate their effects on the thermal stress intensity factors. To solve the thermoelastic governing equations subject to complex boundary conditions, the methodology of integral transform with singular integral equation is employed. The numerical results demonstrate that the auxetic honeycombs can reduce the thermal stress intensity factors significantly compared to their conventional counterparts. The ratio of stress intensity factors in auxetic to non-auxetic honeycombs under the same absolute value of the internal cell angle θ decreases monotonically with increasing |θ|. In addition, the effects of the relative density, crack length, and crack position are investigated. Our findings would provide a more comprehensive understanding of the honeycomb’s fracture behaviors and contribute to the material design of the sandwich composites with honeycomb cores.

Fatigue life prediction of cracked cross beam of mining linear vibrating screen under cyclic load

The cross beam of a mining linear vibrating screen is prone to cracking under long-term cyclic load. In order to accurately predict the fatigue life of the cracked cross beam, a coupled analysis method of vibration and crack propagation is proposed. A 2D dynamic model of the vibrating screen is established based on the finite element method, which is verified by the vibration test platform. The cracked Euler beam element is used to model the cracked cross beam. The effects of crack depth, amplitude of excitation force, frequency of excitation force, and crack location on the crack-tip stress intensity factor of the cracked cross beam are investigated in detail. In addition, an iterative method is proposed on the basis of the Paris model. The residual service life of the beam under different frequencies of excitation force, amplitudes of excitation force, spring stiffness, crack positions, and degrees of stiffness imbalance are discussed. The results demonstrate that the fatigue life of the beam increases as the frequency of excitation force and spring stiffness increase. The increase of the amplitude of excitation force and spring permanent deformation reduces the fatigue life. The conclusion obtained provide some theoretical guidance for the design and routine maintenance of mining linear vibrating screens.

An experimental and theoretical investigation on residual stress of 7075-T651 aluminum alloy hole under electromagnetic cold expansion

The electromagnetic cold expansion process (ECE) was adopted in this work. The theoretical plastic radius, hole wall stress, radial stress, circumferential stress and release stress under different expansion rates (ER) were studied based on thick cylinder theory and ECE experiments. The released strain, residual stress (RS) and failure force were measured. The tensile fracture morphology was characterized. The results showed that the theoretical plastic radius (maximum 15.87 mm), internal stress (maximum 982.9 MPa), radial stress (maximum −820.9 MPa) and circumferential stress (maximum −271.4 MPa) increased with the increase of ER. The absolute radial and circumferential stress decreased and increased in negative and positive ranges respectively with distance increased. The release strain (maximum −3033 με, 10−6 microstrain), radial RS (maximum 600.9 MPa) and circumferential RS (maximum 601.1 MPa) also increased with the increase of ER, and the minimum relative error of the plastic zone radius of the theoretical model was 3.78 % proving the reliability of the model. In addition, ECE increased the release stress (the maximum radial and circumferential release stresses were 1402.6 MPa and 747.5 MPa) and decreased the failure force (minimum 44.7kN) with increased ER. The initial crack position tended to transition from the inlet and outlet surfaces to the middle position, and the crack propagation angle and axial crack size gradually decreased with the decreased ER and stress level.

Investigation on the dynamic failure characteristics of concrete slab based on mesoscopic simulation and energy conversion analysis

In this study, Continuous Discontinuous Element Method (CDEM) was employed to analyze the failure of concrete slab under drop-hammer impact at the mesoscopic level. Initially, simulation models of the impact system were established, and concrete slab models, including three-dimensional random aggregates, were generated. Mesoscopic simulations of concrete failure were then conducted by considering different variables, such as impact energy, slab size and the number of hammerheads. Corresponding drop hammer tests were used to validate the simulation results. Furthermore, an energy conversion formula for the dynamic failure of concrete slabs was derived, and the energy conversion process within the impact system was analyzed. The study also revealed the dynamic failure mechanisms of concrete slabs under various impact conditions. The research demonstrates that the simulation results are generally consistent with the impact tests. CDEM effectively investigates the impact characteristic and the energy conversion process of concrete slab failure. Under varying impact energies, slab sizes and hammerhead numbers, distinct differences in the failure characteristics of concrete-slab structure were observed. Increased impact energy accelerates the failure of concrete slabs, whereas larger concrete slab sizes inhibit crack propagation. The number of impact heads determines the initial crack position and its propagation path within the concrete slab. Moreover, the energy conversion process of the impact system significantly influences the failure behavior of the concrete slab. The effect of slab size on the energy utilization rate is greater than those of hammerhead number and impact speed.

Study of factors affecting the magnetic sensing capability of shape memory alloys for non-destructive evaluation of cracks in concrete: Using response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network (ANN) approaches

Currently, the field of structural health monitoring (SHM) is focused on investigating non-destructive evaluation techniques for the identification of damages in concrete structures. Magnetic sensing has particularly gained attention among the innovative non-destructive evaluation techniques. Recently, the embedded magnetic shape memory alloy (MSMA) wire has been introduced for the evaluation of cracks in concrete components through magnetic sensing techniques while providing reinforcement as well. However, the available research in this regard is very scarce. This study has focused on the analyses of parameters affecting the magnetic sensing capability of embedded MSMA wire for crack detection in concrete beams. The response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network (ANN) models have been used to analyse the magnetic sensing parameters for the first time. The models were trained using the experimental data obtained through literature. The models aimed to predict the alteration in magnetic flux created by a concrete beam that has a 1 mm wide embedded MSMA wire after experiencing a fracture or crack. The results showed that the change in magnetic flux was affected by the position of the wire and the position of the crack with respect to the position of the magnet in the concrete beam. RSM optimisation results showed that maximum change in magnetic flux was obtained when the wire was placed at a depth of 17.5 mm from the top surface of the concrete beam, and a crack was present at an axial distance of 8.50 mm from the permanent magnet. The change in magnetic flux was 9.50 % considering the aforementioned parameters. However, the ANN prediction results showed that the optimal wire and crack position were 10 mm and 1.1 mm, respectively. The results suggested that a larger beam requires a larger diameter of MSMA wire or multiple sensors and magnets for crack detection in concrete beams.

Research on the Brazilian splitting characteristics and failure mechanism of jointed composite disks

The stress state of composite rock joints has a significant impact on the overall stability of the rock mass. Studying the composite mechanism disk specimens with different matrix strengths and inclination angles under Brazilian splitting state is of great significance for improving the safety of surrounding rock. This research conducted Brazilian tests on different types of jointed composite disk specimens at different inclination angles and explored the effects of inclination angle and material strength on the mechanical properties and deformation characteristics of specimens. Clarified the failure mechanism of joint specimen. The experimental results indicate that the disk specimens under different inclination angles exhibit three typical failure modes. As the inclination angle increases, failure mode changes from Disk matrix failure (DM failure) to Disk matrix and structural failure (DMS failure), and ultimately to Disk structural failure (DS failure). Failure load, input energy, and strain energy of the specimen continue to decrease as the inclination angle increases and the matrix strength decreases. The decrease in matrix material significantly weakens the strength of the specimen, but this effect continues to decrease with the increase of inclination angle. DIC results show that as the inclination angle increases, the position of cracks exists from the loading end to the joint surface. Through theoretical analysis, it is found that as the inclination angle increases, the stress state at the center of the specimens changes from compression-shear state to shear state, and finally to tension state, corresponding to three failure modes: DM failure, DMS failure, and DS failure, respectively.

Transient heat transfer analysis of a sandwich panel with a cracked honeycomb core

Sandwich structures with ceramic honeycomb cores are extensively employed in thermal protection systems owing to their exceptional ability to resist high temperatures. This work aims at exploring the effect of cracking on the transient thermal process of the sandwich panel subject to impulsive and cyclic thermal loadings. Both the conventional and re-entrant hexagonal alumina honeycombs are considered for the core material. By the integral transform method, combined with singular integral equations, the transient temperatures of the whole sandwich panel are determined from the semi-analytical solution. The straightforward temperature difference of the crack face’s midpoints is exploited to characterize the heat intensification near the crack. Parametric investigations are carried out for the internal cell angle, the relative density, crack length, crack position, and thickness of face sheets, which provides a better understanding of the honeycomb materials working in thermal protection systems.

Modeling of defects in ultrasonic flaw detection. Status and prospects

In the introduction to the article four factors, which are most important for ensuring the accuracy of defect parameters measurements at ultrasonic inspection, are mentioned: parameters of artificial reflectors in samples, compliance of acoustic properties of material of tuning samples and controlled products, transient characteristics of electroacoustic paths, methodological features of measurements. The present article is devoted to the analysis of the first and partly fourth of listed factors. The review of reflectors, the use of which is regulated in various standards, is carried out. Advantages and disadvantages of flat-bottomed holes, segmental and angular reflectors (“notches”), lateral (BCO) and vertical cylindrical drills, grooves are noted. Taking into account the peculiarities of ultrasonic wave scattering, it is noted that artificial “reflectors” such as “grooves” and BCOs are used to adjust the parameters of modern diffraction control methods. It is recommended to expand the use of grooves, BCO and vertical drilling in the revision of standards governing the use of classical echo-methods. The estimation of accuracy of measurement of defects parameters, first of all — coordinates of crack tip, with application of modern digital methods of information processing at ultrasonic control is given. It is indicated that to increase the accuracy of measurements, to determine the position and orientation of cracks in welds, it is necessary to create a database of digital doubles of samples with artificial reflectors and products with real defects. The general scheme of quality control work execution is given, taking into account the use of standards (measures), digital models of artificial reflectors and digital twins of the control process to ensure the necessary detectability of defects and reliability of manual, automated and, potentially, automatic control.

Computational modelling and prediction of nonlinear deflection responses of bonded joint component with multiple damage (crack and delamination) – An experimental validation

The present research evaluates the presence of damage, including delamination and cracks, affects the deflection response of an adhesively bonded single lap joint (SLJ). In this study, the numerical analysis is performed for intact and influence of different damages in the adherend of SLJ in the commercial simulation software (ABAQUS). The circular delamination of radius ‘R’ 10 mm and crack having length ‘l’ 20 mm, the radius of curvature ‘Rc’ 0.2 mm are imposed into the laminate adherend using node-to-surface interaction technique. The stability of the simulation model is verified by comparing the deflection values from published results and experimental data. The confirmed simulation model is broadened to examine the impact of design factors (fiber orientation, loading position, delamination shape, crack position and orientation, and delamination position with and without crack) on the deflection response for various overlapping lengths (25, 30, 35, and 40 mm) for final design recommendation. Additionally, the sensitivity analysis was performed using a surrogate model (i.e., variance-based method) by constructing the second-order polynomial function to quantify the influence of damages under the input parameters. The detailed features and multivariate model functions have been analysed for the various damage cases of SLJ.

A Road Crack Detection Method Based on Residual and Attention Mechanism

This paper proposes a road crack detection method based on residual and attention mechanisms to address the issues of difficult detection of small cracks on road surfaces in complex backgrounds and inaccurate crack detection edges. This method introduces residual modules in the encoder stage to better extract crack detail features and introduces attention mechanism modules in the skip connection structure of the network to better locate crack positions. Training and testing on public datasets have shown that compared with existing partial detection methods, our method has improved segmentation accuracy and generalization, and is more precise in segmenting small cracks, thus verifying the superiority of the proposed method in this paper.

Life Assessment of Deep-Sea Observation Windows under Different Design Considerations

As a key component of deep-sea manned submersibles, the observation window is usually constructed with polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) material. During the design of the observation windows, the consideration of actual lifespan and its influential factors is insufficient. There are no clear provisions in the widely applied specifications. In this paper, based on the continuum damage mechanics model, combined with the viscoelastic relationship of PMMA material, a series of calculations were performed on the PMMA observation window. The parametric analysis of the fatigue crack-initiation life of the observation window at various thickness-to-diameter ratios (1.6, 1.4, 1.2, and 1.0), different friction coefficients (0.1, 0.2, and 0.3), and different transition arc radii (4000 mm and 6000 mm) was carried out. The calculated crack positions in the numerical mode used for validation closely align with those in the tested window. And simulation results show that the fatigue life of the observation window gradually decreases with the decrease in the thickness–diameter ratio and the increase in the friction coefficient. However, the increase in the transition arc radius will prolong the fatigue life of the observation window, which is higher than that of the original structure.