M.-H. Herman Shen

Development of an Improved High Cycle Fatigue Criterion

An integrated computational-experimental approach for prediction of total fatigue life applied to a uniaxial stress state is developed. The approach consists of the following elements: (1) development of a vibration based fatigue testing procedure to achieve low cost bending fatigue experiments and (2) development of a life prediction and estimation implementation scheme for calculating effective fatigue cycles. A series of fully reversed bending fatigue tests were carried out using a vibration-based testing procedure to investigate the effects of bending stress on fatigue limit. The results indicate that the fatigue limit for 6061-T6 aluminum is approximately 20% higher than the respective limit in fully reversed tension-compression (axial). To validate the experimental observations and further evaluate the possibility of prediction of fatigue life, an improved high cycle fatigue criterion has been developed, which allows one to systematically determine the fatigue life based on the amount of energy loss per fatigue cycle. A comparison between the prediction and the experimental results was conducted and shows that the criterion is capable of providing accurate fatigue life prediction.

Goodman Diagram Via Vibration-Based Fatigue Testing

A new vibration-based fatigue testing methodology for assessing high-cycle turbine engine material fatigue strength at various stress ratios is presented. The idea is to accumulate fatigue energy on a base-excited plate specimen at high frequency resonant modes and to complete a fatigue test in a much more efficient way at very low cost. The methodology consists of (1) a geometrical design procedure, incorporating a finite-element model to characterize the shape of the specimen for ensuring the required stress state/ pattern; (2) a vibration feedback empirical procedure for achieving the high-cycle fatigue experiments with variable-amplitude loading; and finally (3) a pre-strain procedure for achieving various uniaxial stress ratios. The performance of the methodology is demonstrated with experimental results for mild steel, 6061-T6 aluminum, and Ti-6Al-4V plate specimens subjected to a fully reversed bending, uniaxial stress state.

Multi-Axial Fatigue-Life Prediction via a Strain-Energy Method

A strain-energy-based method has been developed to predict the fatigue life of a structure subjected to either shear or biaxial bending loads at various stress ratios. The framework for this method is an advancement of previously conducted research that validates a uniaxial energy-based fatigue-life-prediction approach. The understanding behind the approach states that the total strain energy dissipated during a monotonic fracture and a cyclic process is the same material property, where the experimental strain-energy density of each can be determined by measuring the area underneath the monotonic true stress-strain curve and the area within a hysteresis loop, respectively. The developed framework consists of two elements: a life-prediction method that calculates shear fatigue-life cycles and a multi-axial life-prediction method capable of calculating biaxial fatigue-life cycles. A comparison was made between the two framework elements and experimental results from three different aluminum alloys. The comparison shows encouraging agreement, thus providing credence in the prediction capabilities of the proposed energy-based framework.

A New Multiaxial Fatigue Testing Method for Variable-Amplitude Loading and Stress Ratio

A new vibration-based multiaxial fatigue testing methodology for assessing high-cycle turbine engine material fatigue strength at various stress ratios is presented. The idea is to accumulate fatigue energy on a base-excited plate specimen at high-frequency resonant modes and to complete a fatigue test in a much more efficient way at very low cost. The methodology consists of (1) a topological design procedure, incorporating a finite element model, to characterize the shape of the specimens for ensuring the required stress state/ pattern, (2) a vibration feedback empirical procedure for achieving the high-cycle fatigue experiments with variable-amplitude loading, and finally (3) a yielding procedure for achieving various uniaxial stress ratios. The performance of the methodology is demonstrated by the experimental results from mild steel, 6061-T6 aluminum, and Ti-6Al-4V plate specimens subjected to fully reversed bending for both uniaxial and biaxial stress states.

An Energy-Based Method for Uni-Axial Fatigue Life Calculation

An energy based fatigue life prediction framework has been developed for calculation of remaining fatigue life of in-service gas turbine materials. The purpose of the life prediction framework is to account for the material aging effect on fatigue strength of gas turbine engines structural components which are usually designed for infinite life. Previous studies [1–7] indicate the total strain energy dissipated during a monotonic fracture process and a cyclic process is a material property that can be determined by measuring the area underneath the monotonic true stress-strain curve and the sum of the area within each hysteresis loop in the cyclic process, respectively. The energy-based fatigue life prediction framework consists of the following entities: (1) development of a testing procedure to achieve plastic energy dissipation per life cycle and (2) incorporation of an energy-based fatigue life calculation scheme to determine the remaining fatigue life of in-service gas turbine materials. The accuracy of the remaining fatigue life prediction method was verified by comparison between model approximation and experimental results of Aluminum 6061-T6 (Al 6061-T6). The comparison shows promising agreement, thus validating the capability of the framework to produce accurate fatigue life prediction.Copyright

Processing Induced Warpage of Filament Wound Composite Cylindrical Shells

In this paper a systematic procedure is developed to eliminate the processing induced warpage in filament wound and fiber placed composite parts. This is accomplished by first developing a through-thickness strain model based on fiber/resin cure consolidation (also referred to as a compaction) and tooling thermal expansion. The lay-up or stacking sequence can be arbitrary (i.e., symmetric or asymmetric). The strain profile model is then integrated into classical laminate theory and solutions for predicting and eliminating warpage are obtained. The accuracy of both solutions is evaluated by comparison with experimental data. To facilitate this, cylindrical test specimens were manufactured and the cure consolidation and warpage measured. It was found that the predictions were accurate and the warpage could be reduced and eliminated in most cases. The majority of cure consolidation in composites results from resin bleed-out and evacuation of entrapped air (voids). The magnitude is dependent on manufacturing parameters including cure pressure, winding tension, and material characteristics (i.e., pre-preg fiber volume fraction, resin viscosity, etc.). The strain profile that develops is set once the resin cures and is therefore not a hygrothermal phenomenon and is independent of cure temperature, or finished part operational environment.

Optimal design of composite ChamberCore structures

Abstract An optimization procedure has been developed to uniquely and efficiently determine the “best” local geometry design of a new composite ChamberCore structure. This procedure is based on minimization of the total mass of a single composite ChamberCore subject to a set of design and stress constraints. The stress constraints are obtained in closed form based on the composite box-beam model for various composite lamination designs and loading conditions. The optimization problem statement is constructed and then solved using the VMCON optimization program, which is an iterative sequential quadratic programming (SQP) technique based on Powells algorithm. The sensitivity of the solution of the optimal geometry to the values of parameters that characterize the structural durability and the failure mechanism is discussed.

The Effect of Varying Thickness on the Buckling of Orthotropic Plates

Although stability failure of constant thickness plates is a fairly well understood problem, buckling of plates with varying thickness has seen little research. This is not a common problem, but buckling of varying thickness plates does occur, as in the case of Advanced Grid Stiffened structures. These structures are characterized by lattices of rigidly connected rib stiffeners. While real-world Advanced Grid Stiffened structure ribs are modeled as orthotropic plates, they often have complex cross-sections (i.e., varying thickness). Unfortunately, failure analysis techniques for these ribs have been limited to rectangular cross-sections. To address this shortcoming, a buckling theory is presented for orthotropic plates of varying thickness. Orthotropic plates with both linear and hourglass thickness variations are considered. These are common grid structure cross-section geometries resulting from existing manufacturing processes. For both geometries, results are given that allow designers to predict how these plates will behave, relative to a constant thickness plate, for a variety of material properties and plate aspect ratios.

An Energy-Based Axial Isothermal- Mechanical Fatigue Lifing Procedure

An energy-based fatigue lifing procedure for the determination of full-life and critical-life of in-service structures subjected to axial isothermal-mechanical fatigue (IMF) has been developed. The foundation of this procedure is the energy-based axial room-temperature fatigue model, which states: the total strain energy density accumulated during both a monotonic fracture event and a fatigue process is the same material property. The energy-based axial IMF lifing framework is composed of the following entities: (1) the development of an axial IMF testing capability; (2) the creation of a testing procedure capable of assessing the strain energy accrued during both a monotonic fracture process and a fatigue process at various elevated temperatures; and (3), the incorporation of the effect of temperature into the axial fatigue lifing model. Both an axial IMF capability and a detailed testing procedure were created. The axial IMF capability was employed in conjunction with the monotonic fracture curve testing procedure to produce fifteen fracture curves at four operating temperatures. The strain energy densities for these fracture curves were compared, leading to the assumption of constant monotonic fracture energy at operating temperatures below the creep activation temperature.

A Promising New Energy-Based Fatigue Life Prediction Framework

An energy-based fatigue life prediction framework has been developed for prediction of axial and bending fatigue life at various stress ratios. The framework for the prediction of fatigue life via energy analysis was developed in accordance with the approach in our previous study which states: the total strain energy dissipated during a monotonic fracture process is a material property that can be determined by measuring the area underneath the monotonic true stress-strain curve. The framework consists of the following two elements: (1) Development of a bending fatigue criterion by observing the total strain energy of the effective volume, which is achieved by computing the total plastic strain energy with consideration of the stress gradient influence through the thickness of a specimen, in the fatigue area, during cyclic loading. A comparison between the prediction and the experimental results from 6061-T6 aluminum specimens was conducted and shows that the new energy-based fatigue criterion is capable of predicting accurate fully reversed bending fatigue life. (2) Development of a new life prediction criterion for axial fatigue at various stress ratios. The criterion was constructed by accounting for both the residual energy dissipated, monotonically, due to the mean stress, and the incorporation of the mean stress effect into the total strain energy density dissipated per cycle. The performance of the criterion was demonstrated by experimental results from 6061-T6 aluminum dog-bone specimens subjected to axial stress at various stress ratios. The comparison shows very good agreement, thus validating the capability of producing accurate fatigue life predictions.Copyright