Quantitative thermoelastic stress analysis by means of low-cost setups

2020

Abstract A low-cost Thermoelastic Stress Analysis (TSA) experimental setup is proposed which uses an ordinary micro-bolometer and in-house developed signal processing scripts. The setup is evaluated by analysing the thermoelastic signal from a tensile and a SENT specimen made of stainless steel AISI 304L, and the bolometer performances are compared with those of a state of the art photon detector. Signal processing is based on off-line cross-correlation, using a self-reference signal which is retrieved from the acquired thermal data. Procedures are in particular developed to recognise, quantify and correct errors due to spectral leakage and loss of streamed frames. The thermoelastic signal …

Progressi sperimentali e numerici nella valutazione dell'integrita strutturale dei solidi mediante Thermoelastic Stress Analysis

2023

Influence of data input in the evaluation of Stress Intensity Factors from Thermoelastic Stress Analysis

2021

Abstract Thermoelastic Stress Analysis (TSA) is applied to evaluate the Stress Intensity Factor (SIF), T-stress and J-Integral in a Single-Edge-Notched-Tension sample undergoing fatigue cycling. The Williams’ series stress formulation and a least-square fitting (LSF) procedure are used to obtain the SIF and the T-stress. The evaluation is carried out with the aim to investigate the influence of the input data in the system of equations solved with the LSF, and in particular: the number of coefficients used in the Williams’ series and the choice and position of the fitted experimental data points. Three algorithms for the determination of the crack tip position are also evaluated: a coarse g…

On the correlation of temperature harmonic content with energy dissipation in C45 steel samples under fatigue loading

2022

Fatigue damage onset involves a transformation of mechanical energy. This is in part spent into work of plastic deformation and fracture and in part transformed into heat. Therefore, different thermomechanical heat sources are activated during a fatigue loading cycle, resulting in a temperature modulation that can be characterized by its frequency content. Several studies have monitored the temperature on samples undergoing high-cycle fatigue, measuring specific thermomechanical metrics which could serve as indicators of damage evolution. The present work evaluates the harmonic content of temperature, to investigate its correlation with the material dissipation. The harmonic terms investiga…

Evaluation of crack-closure by second harmonic thermoelastic stress analysis

2022

The work illustrates a new experimental approach to evaluate crack-closure in samples undergoing Fatigue Crack-Growing. Crack-closure leaves a peculiar signature on both amplitude and phase of the harmonic of the temperature signal at twice the loading frequency (Second Harmonic), due to the periodic nature of the internal elastic compression stresses. Thermoelastic Stress Analysis (TSA) is successfully applied to reveal such signatures on Single-Edge-Notched steel samples. A methodology is also proposed to evaluate the Crack-Opening-Load from temperature data. The work finally explores the influence of crack-closure on crack-tip identification and on the evaluation of the Stress Intensity …

Experimental determination of mode I fracture parameters in orthotropic materials by means of Digital Image Correlation

2020

Abstract The mode I fracture parameters for an orthotropic body are directly calculated from full-field deformation measurements provided by Digital Image Correlation (DIC). Three complementary and direct approaches are evaluated and compared: (i) the determination of the Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) by fitting the displacement field using the analytical expression proposed by Lekhnitskii; (ii) the determination of the J-Integral by using the Energy Domain Integral (EDI) formulation on the raw DIC data; and (iii) the calculation of the J-Integral using the EDI approach on the displacement data fitted using Lekhnitskii’s formulation. A comparative experimental study is performed by testing …

Investigation of the Thermomechanical Response of Cyclically Loaded NiTi Alloys by Means of Temperature Frequency Domain Analyses

2021

Nickel–Titanium (NiTi) shape memory alloys subjected to cyclic loading exhibit reversible temperature changes whose modulation is correlated with the applied load. This reveals the presence of reversible thermomechanical heat sources activated by the applied stresses. One such source is the elastocaloric effect, accounting for the latent heat of Austenite–Martensite phase transformation. It is, however, observed that when the amplitude of cyclic loads is not sufficient to activate or further propagate this phase transformation, the material still exhibits a strong cyclic temperature modulation. The present work investigates the thermomechanical behaviour of NiTi under such low-amplitude cyc…