Wind power, especially offshore, is considered to be one of the most promising sources of ‘clean’ energy towards meeting the EU targets for 2020 and 2050. However, its popularity has always fluctuated with the price of fossil fuels since nowadays wind electricity production cannot compete with nuclear or coal electricity production. Support structures are thought to be one of the main drivers for reducing costs in order to make the wind industry more economically efficient. Foundations and towers should be fit for purpose, extending their effective service life but avoiding costs of oversizing. An exhaustive review of the background and state of the art of the Fatigue-Life assessment approaches has been carried out, combining analysis of the gathered experimental data and the development of Finite Element models based on contemporary 3D solid models with diverse Regression Analyses, in order to identify their weakness and evaluate their accuracy. This research shows that the guides and practices currently employed in the design and during the operation of the offshore wind turbine support structures are obsolete and not useful for optimisation, which generally leads to conservationism and an unnecessary increase in costs. The basis for a comprehensive update of the Girth Weld and Tubular Joint S-N curves and the Stress Concentration Factors of Tubular Joints has been set out. Furthermore, a reliable methodology for deriving the Stress Intensity Factor at the deepest point of a semi-elliptical surface saddle crack in a tubular welded T-joint has been proposed.

This diploma thesis describes properties of ultra-fine grain Cu prepared via ECAP procedure. The influence of fatigue loading with positive mean stress on S-N curve (i.e. fatigue life), cyclic plastic behaviour and grain size was investigated. It was found that tensile mean stress leads to shorter lifetime in comparison with fatigue loading with zero mean stress. During main part of the lifetime, significant hardening of UFG Cu was observed. There is no distinct effect on microstructural orientation and stability.

No description available.

[pt] Estudos recentes têm mostrado que para muitos materiais de Engenharia não existe um limite de fadiga. Numa análise convencional, se admite uma vida infinita em fadiga de alto ciclo quando o material atinge 10(6) - 10(7) ciclos sem a incidência de falhas. Entretanto, em função do desenvolvimento tecnológico atual, a vida-fadiga de inúmeros componentes mecânicos e estruturais pode ultrapassar a fronteira da fadiga de alto ciclo, fazendo com que a avaliação do comportamento em fadiga de altíssimo ciclo (10(7) – 10(12)), tenha se tornado extremamente importante para projetos, por ter estabelecido que uma tensão limite de fadiga não existe em muitos casos. Pesquisas recentes demonstram que a maioria dos materiais, incluindo ligas ferrosas, apresentam falhas em até 10(10) ciclos, com um decréscimo contínuo do limite de fadiga após 10(6) ciclos, o que torna a resistência à fadiga associada com um número de ciclos mais importante do que o próprio limite de fadiga. No regime de altíssimo ciclo de fadiga as trincas se iniciam a partir de defeitos internos do material, como inclusões, gerando mecanismos de iniciação de trincas caraterísticos das superfícies de fratura, tais como olho de peixe (fish-eye), ODA (Optically Dark Area) e FGA (Fine Granular Area). Neste estudo foram usinados corpos de prova do aço DIN 34CrNiMo6, que foram ensaiados entre 10(6) e 10(9) ciclos, sob fadiga ultrassônica do tipo tração-compressão, com frequência de 20 kHz e razão de carregamento -1. Os resultados mostraram que o material tem uma tendência maior a vida-fadiga sob valores baixos de tensão e na superfície de fratura de alguns corpos de prova formação de fish-eye. / [en] Recent studies have shown that for many engineering materials there is no fatigue limit. In a conventional analysis, infinite life in high cycle fatigue is allowed when the material reaches 10(6) - 10(7) cycles without the occurrence of failures. However, due to the current technological development, the fatigue life of several mechanical and structural components can exceed the boundary of high cycle fatigue, making the evaluation of ultra high cyle fatigue behavior (10(7)-10(12)), or fatigue of very high cycle, has become extremely important for projects, because it has established that a stress of fatigue limit does not exist in many cases. Current research has shown that most materials, including ferrous alloys, exhibit failures in up to 10(9) cycles, with a continuous decrease in the fatigue limit after 10(6) cycles, which makes strength fatigue associated with a number of cycles most important than own fatigue limit. In the very high fatigue cycles regime, cracks start from internal defects of the material, such as inclusions, generating a feature mechanisms of crack initiation on the fracture surfaces, such as fish-eye, ODA (Optically Dark Area) and Fine Granular Area (FGA). This study, specimens of DIN 34CrNiMo6 steel were machined and were tested between 10(6) and 10(9) cycles, under ultrasonic fatigue, with a frequency of 20 kHz and a loading ratio of -1. The results showed that the material has a tendency to fatigue life under low stress values and in some fracture sufaces of the specimens the fish-eye formation.

The use of recommended S-N curves, presented in current literature, to analyse and determine the fatigue life of a part is common practice in, inter alia, the construction industry.However, the recommended S-N curves are generally created for larger components used in mainly the construction industry. Hence, the use of S-N curves for the evaluation of smaller parts, may result in over-dimensioning of such parts. For this reason, evaluation and designing of smaller parts could benefit from the development of an in house S-N curve specific for the part. The purpose of this thesis is to generate and validate an in-house method for creating a S-N curve, for a specific part to be compared with recommended S-N curves in the literature. The specific part used for the generating of the method is a welded steel joint with the geometry of two steel pipes, welded together in a t-formation and which has been provided by Thule AB for the purpose of the thesis. The method presented uses the results from 1) physical fatigue tests using a fatigue testing machine and 2) static FEA to derive a S-N curve for the specific part using the least squares method. A fatigue testing rig enables the gathering of data of the number of cycles to failure when the part is subject to a given cyclic load. The rig uses pneumatics to control the forces applied onto the part with the use of a cylinder. Furthermore, the fatigue testing rig was designed to be controlled by the applied force, meaning, that the rig ensured a homogeneous load cycle by measuring the force from a load cell and alternating the direction of the cylinder with an electrically controlled pressure valve. The performance of static FEA evaluations aim at locating stresses in the part. For this thesis the stresses were evaluated using the hot spot method due to the part's welded geometry. The data gathered from the physical fatigue tests and the static FEA evaluations are subsequently combined deriving S-N curves applicable to the part. From the fatigue tests and FEA evaluations for the t-shaped welded steel part, four S-N curves were derived of which two curves showed the results of a linear fitted curve whereas the other curves used the recommended slope of $-1/3$. The results showed that the S-N curves derived, using a set slope, resulted in similar curves to the recommended S-N curve provided by the literature. However, the linear fitted S-N curve showed that the part, according to the S-N curve, had a higher fatigue resistance than recommended.  Due to limitations in the thesis work, the S-N curves derived within the framework of this thesis should be regarded as theoretical and have been strictly used to identify whether the method generated is applicable for deriving of S-N curves.

[pt] Neste trabalho, o fator de gradiente de tensões elastoplástico na frente da raiz de entalhe é utilizado para investigar o efeito real do entalhe na resistência à fadiga, quantificado pelo fator de concentração de tensões à fadiga. Este é geralmente menor que o fator de concentração de tensões do entalhe, o parâmetro linear elástico (Fator de concentração de tensão) , devido à tolerância do material a trincas curtas não propagantes. Considerando que a plasticidade localizada na vizinhança da raiz do entalhe afeta o comportamento de crescimento de trincas curtas dentro da zona plástica induzida pelo entalhe, uma abordagem baseada na Mecânica da Fratura é proposta para abranger os efeitos dos campos de tensões e deformações elastoplásticas no cálculo do (Fator de concentração de tensão de fadiga). Análises bidimensionais por elementos finitos são adotadas para calcular fatores de intensidade de tensão de espécimes planos e entalhados. O modelo de encruamento de Ramberg-Osgood e a regra de Neuber são usados para obter aproximações de fatores de intensidade baseados em deformação. Para validação da metodologia, as previsões numéricas geradas são comparadas com dados experimentais de S-N coletadas da literatura para espécimes com (Fator de concentração de tensão) . Estes possuem furo circular central ou entalhes tipo U ou V, são feitos de diferentes materiais e testados sob cargas axiais com razão igual a -1, 0 ou 0,1. A comparação mostra boa concordância e prova que a solução elastoplástica proporcione maior precisão do que a linear elástica. Os resultados mais discrepantes são obtidos em razões de carga de 0 e 0,1, no entanto, eles podem ser significativamente melhorados quando é considerada a correção de efeitos de tensão média não nula. / [en] Elasto-plastic stress gradient factors ahead of notch tips are used to evaluate actual notch effects in fatigue strength, quantified by fatigue stress concentration factor (Fatigue stress concentration factor). Usually, it is smaller than the linear elastic stress concentration factor of the notch, (Stress concentration factor) , due to material tolerance to non-propagating short cracks. Considering that local plasticity around notch tips plays a significant role in the growth behavior of short cracks within the notch plastic zone, a sound mechanical methodology is proposed to account for the effects of elasto-plastic stress and strain fields in the actual (Fatigue stress concentration factor) value. Two-dimensional finite element analyses are conducted to compute stress intensity factors of smooth and notched specimens. Ramberg-Osgood model and Neuber s rule are used to achieve approximations for strain-based intensity factors. For methodology validation, numerical predictions are compared to experimental stress-life data of center, U, and V-notched plate specimens made of different materials and tested under uniaxial load ratios of −1, 0, and 0.1 collected from the literature. The comparisons show good agreement proving that the elasto-plastic solution provides more accuracy than the linear elastic one. The most discrepant results are obtained at load ratios of 0 and 0.1, and they can be significantly improved if non-zero mean stress effects are considered.

[pt] Critérios de fadiga multiaxial para vida infinita tinham por objetivo apenas avaliar a ocorrência de fratura em um componente mecânico quando submetido a carregamentos multiaxiais totalmente reversíveis. Carpinteri e Spagnoli propuseram uma modificação em seu próprio modelo, substituindo por outros parâmetros os limites de resistência à fadiga em flexão f−1 e torção t−1 para ensaios totalmente reversíveis, introduzindo na equação uma variável nf que permitiu realizar uma previsão de vida em fadiga finita. O objetivo do presente estudo é verificar experimentalmente a consistência dessa modificação. A metodologia consistiu em obter experimentalmente curvas de Wohler para tração e torção referentes ao aço DIN 42CrMo4 a fim de obter os parâmetros m e m(asterisco), que são os coeficientes angulares das mesmas em escala log-log, produzindo meios para a aplicação do critério. Como o equacionamento do modelo não apresenta solução analítica, foi desenvolvido uma solução numérica para obter junto ao critério uma previsão teórica de vida em fadiga. Adicionalmente, o estudo busca discutir acerca de uma possível relação direta entre amplitude de tensão normal, amplitude de tensão cisalhante e número de ciclos para falha. O modelo em si apresentou consistência parcial com os experimentos, tendo sido assertivo nos ensaios de torção pura, mas discrepante em ensaios de tração pura. Para carregamentos combinados, houve razoável precisão em dois casos e grande dispersão em outra, mas a avaliação final depende de mais pontos experimentais. / [en] Infinite-life multiaxial fatigue criteria had only the ability to evaluate whether or not fatigue failure is to occur to a mechanical componente once subjected to multiaxial fatigue loadings. Carpinteri e Spagnoli proposed a modification to their own model, substituting both fully reversed bending and torsion fatigue endurance limits, f1 and t−1 respectively, introducing into the equation a new variable nf, allowing the model to predict the fatigue-life of the mechanical component. The main goal of the presente study is to assess the accuracy of the modified model via experiments. The research methodology consisted in determining m and m (asterisk), which are the slopes of the S-N curves for fully reversed bending and torsion experiments on regards to DIN 42CrMo4 steel when plotted into a log-log scale, providing means to apply the model. Since there is no analytic solution to the model, the criterion s equation has to be solved numerically. Furthermore, the present study discusses the possibility of a direct relation between amplitude of normal stress, amplitude of shear stress and number of cycles to failure. The modified Carpinteri & Spagnoli s criterion proved itself to be partially consistent, presenting both accurate predictions of torsional fatigue-life and discrepant results for axial loadings. For combined loadings, the model provided two consistent results while another experimental point was proved far off. The final assessment on regards to the model s accuracy depends on more experimental points.

Corrosion fatigue is a common failure mechanism in rock drilling components and many othermechanical parts subjected to cyclic loads in corrosive environments. A crucial part in the design ofsuch components resides in the selection of the right materials for the application, which ideallyinvolves testing and comparison of their performance under working conditions. The present work was performed with the purpose of designing a corrosion-fatigue testing methodthat would allow the designer to compare the performance of different materials exposed to corrosionfatigue, permitting also the comparison with results from dry fatigue testing. The method was designedfor rotating-bending machines. Two different steel grades were used during the work, one throughhardened and one case hardened. The effect of these heat treatments and of shot peening overcorrosion-fatigue behaviour were studied using the proposed method. It was proven that the testing speed has a strong impact on the fatigue life of steel. It was found that,at a fixed stress level, the case hardened and shot peened steel reached 3X10^6 cycles at 2300 rpm,while it failed at only 5X10^5 cycles with a testing speed of 500 rpm. A large beneficial influence of theshot peening was demonstrated. It was also observed that, at fixed testing speed, the shot peening onthe through hardened steel can increase its fatigue strength from 190 MPa to 600 MPa under corrosionfatigue. Many cracks were found at the surface of the shot peened parts, which are arrested near thesurface by the compressive stress layer from the shot peening. It was also found that, for the non-shotpeened parts, case hardening had a slightly higher corrosion-fatigue strength than the throughhardened. This might be a result of the compressive stresses from carburization, or due to the highercore toughness of this steel grade.

Fiber-reinforced composites comprise an important class of lightweight materials which are finding increasing applications in engineering structures including body components of automobiles and aircraft. Traditionally, synthetic fibers made of glass, carbon, etc. along with a polymeric resin have constituted the most common composites. However, due to environmental concern, occupational health safety considerations, higher cost, etc., research has been focused on substituting synthetic fibers, especially glass fibers with safer, economic and biodegradable natural fibers. Due to the ease of availability and affordability in terms of cost, woven jute mats, among a wide variety of natural fiber-based reinforcements, offer a good choice in combination with a suitable resin such as polyester or epoxy for fabrication of composite laminates. In structural applications, joining of parts made of jute fiber-reinforced composites (JFRCs) would be a natural requirement. Alternatives to joining processes for metals such as welding, riveting, etc. are required for composites. A joining process of high potential is adhesive bonding which has the advantages of reducing stress concentration, permitting fastening of dissimilar materials, etc. In the present study, adhesively bonded joints of JFRCs and their mechanical behavior are investigated under quasi-static and cyclic loading conditions. Initially, characterization of substrates is carried out under monotonic loading. This is followed by determination of stress- Strain curves, failure load and mean shear strength of bonded joints as functions of joint curing temperature and overlap length using a two-part structural epoxy adhesive. All tests are carried out according to relevant ASTM standards. It has been observed that higher curing temperatures give rise to only marginally high failure load and mean shear stress at failure compared to curing at room temperature. For a given curing temperature, failure load increases while mean shear strength decreases with respect to overlap length in both types of joints. As fatigue failure is a crucial consideration in design, the behavior of adhesively bonded JFRC joints is studied for the first time under cyclic loading conditions leading to the commonly-used S-N curve for characterization of failure of materials at different loading-unloading cycles. Interestingly, the fatigue strength for infinite life of adhesively bonded JFRC joints turns out to be approximately 30% of the quasi-static strength, a correlation which usually applies to materials in general. The effect of joint overlap length on fatigue life is studied and it is observed that the above relation between fatigue and quasi static strength is retained for different overlap lengths. Additionally, insights are provided into failure modes of joints under different loading conditions and for varying overlap lengths. Various empirical predictors such as exponent, power and hybrid models fitting the S-N curve are obtained and their relative efficacy (in terms of Coefficient of Determination R2, Adjusted-R2, Akaike’s Information Criterion and Residual Sum of Squares) enumerated in prediction of failure load including quasi-static failure load. As numerical simulation is an indispensable tool in designing geometrically complex structures under nonlinear conditions including failure and contact, finite element modeling of JFRC substrates, bulk adhesive and adhesively bonded joints has been investigated using implicit and explicit LS-DYNA solvers. In this context, the effects of various modeling parameters (mesh size and loading rate) and details of constitutive models capable of capturing plasticity and failure in an orthotropic composite and isotropic adhesive are discussed. Mesh size has been found to be an important parameter affecting computed results. Finally, a good correlation within ~(4% - 7%) was found between the predicted and experimental results for JFRC substrates, bulk adhesive and adhesively bonded single lap joints.

Hydropower is the most important power balancing resource in the Swedish electrical power system, regulating the power supply to match the load. Consequently, several hydropower plants have periods of stand-by operation where the power production is absent but where several devices within a plant are still active. Such a device is the step-up power transformer, which during stand-by operation still generates no-load energy losses. These losses can accumulate to a considerable amount of energy and costs during the long technical lifetime of the apparatus. One option to minimize these no-load energy losses is by turning the transformer off when its generating unit is in stand-by operation. However, when this transformer operational change has been explained to experts in the field, the most common response has been that a more frequent reenergizing of a transformer leads to higher risks for errors or transformer breakdowns. This study aimed to analytically investigate three effects from this operational change. First, the potential of fatigue failure for the windings due to the increased sequences of inrush current. Secondly, the thermal cycling as a consequence of change in present losses. Lastly, the energy and economic saving potentials for hydropower plants where this operational adjustment is applied. The study used both established as well as analytical tools explicitly created for this study. These were then applied on currently active transformers in different plant categories in Fortum’s hydropower fleet. The study primarily showed three things. Firstly, risk of fatigue failure due to the increased presence of inrush currents did not affect the transformer’s technical lifetime. Secondly, the thermal cycling changes were slightly larger with absent no-load losses during stand-by operation. The average temperature for the transformer decreased, which in general is seen as a positive indicator for a longer insulation lifetime and thus the transformer’s technical lifetime. Finally, the created frameworks showed the potential of saving energy and money for all plant categories, where the potential grew with the installed production capacity and the stand-by operation timeshare. Despite the simplifications made to describe the complex reality of a transformer operating in a hydropower plant, this thesis contributes to lay a foundation for future investigation of an easy adjustment to avoid unnecessary energy losses and costs for transformers in hydropower plants