Critical Fracture Plane Under Multiaxial Random Loading by Means of Euler Angles Averaging
ABSTRACT Several authors have experimentally observed that the position of the fatigue fracture plane strongly depends on the directions of the principal stresses or strains. The expected principal stress directions under multiaxial random loading are obtained herein by averaging the instantaneous values of the three Euler angles through some suitable weight functions, in order to take into account the main factors influencing the fatigue fracture behaviour. Then the correlation between such theoretical principal directions and the experimental fracture plane is examined for some biaxial random fatigue tests.
Crack growth models for multiaxial fatigue in a ship’s propeller shaft
Abstract A premature fatigue failure of a large intermediate propeller shaft in a shuttle tanker is discussed and analyzed. The short fatigue life consists mainly of a crack growth phase. Life predictions are carried out by crack growth modelling based on engineering fracture mechanics. The purpose of the present investigation is to identify the most likely loading modes based on the evolution of the crack propagation. A Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics Model (LEFM) is applied with the stress intensity factor range entering the Paris law as a key parameter. Existing formulas for the geometry functions are supplemented by more detailed stress intensity factor calculations pertaining to smal…
Expected principal stress directions under multiaxial random loading. Part I: theoretical aspects of the weight function method
As has been observed experimentally by many authors, the position of the fatigue fracture plane appears to strongly depend on the directions of the principal stresses or strains. In Part I of the present work the expected principal stress directions under multiaxial random loading are theoretically obtained by averaging the instantaneous values of the three Euler angles through some suitable weight functions which are assumed to take into account the main factors influencing fatigue behaviour. Then, in Part II, it is examined how such theoretical principal directions determined by applying the proposed procedure are correlated to the position of the experimental fracture plane for some fati…
Expected principal stress directions under multiaxial random loading. Part II: Numerical simulation and experimental assessment through the weight function method
In Part I of the present work, the theoretical aspects of a proposed procedure to determine the expected principal stress directions under multiaxial random loading have been discussed. This procedure consists of averaging the instantaneous values of the three Euler angles through weight functions. In Part II here, a numerical simulation is presented to illustrate the above theoretical method. As an example, the algorithm proposed is applied to some experimental biaxial in- and out-of-phase stress states to assess the correlation between the expected principal stress directions and the position of the experimental fatigue fracture plane for such tests.