Fibre Reinforced Polymer Composites are extensively used in aircraft structures because of its high specific stiffness, high specific strength and tailorability. Though Fibre Reinforced Polymers offer many advantages, they are not free from problems. The damage of different nature, e.g., service mechanical damages, fatigue damage or environmental damage can be observed during operating conditions. Among all the damages, manufacturing or service induced, delamination related damage is the most important failure mechanisms of aircraft-composite structures and can be detrimental for safety. Delamination growth under fatigue loading may take place due to local buckling, growth from free edges and notches such as holes, growth from ply-drops and impact damaged composites containing considerable delamination. Delamination growth can also occur due to interlaminar stresses, which can arise in complex structures due to unanticipated loading. The complex nature of composite failure, involving different failure modes and their interactions, makes it necessary to characterize/identify the relevant parameters for fatigue damage resistance, accumulation and life prediction. An effort has been made in this thesis to understand the fatigue behavior of carbon fibre reinforced epoxy laminates under aircraft wing service loading conditions. The study was made on laminates with different lay-up sequences (quasi-isotropic and fibre dominated) and different geometries (plain specimen, specimen with a hole and ply-drop specimen). The fatigue behaviour of the composite was analyzed by following methods: . Ultrasonic C-Scan was used to characterize the delamination growth. . Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) was done to study the interfacial degradation due to fatigue loading. In this analysis, the interfacial strength indicator and interfacial damping were calculated. The DMA also provides the storage modulus degradation under fatigue loading. . Scanning electron microscope examination was carried out to understand the fatigue damage mechanisms. . A semi-empirical phenomenological model was also used to estimate the residual fatigue life. This research work reveals that the Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer laminates are in the safe limit under service loading conditions, except the specimen with a hole. The specimen with a hole showed delaminations around the hole due to stress concentration and higher interlaminar stresses at the hole edges and this delamination is found to be associated with fibre breakage and fibre pullout. The quasi-isotropic laminate is found to show poorer fatigue behaviour when compared to fibre dominated laminate and ply-drop also shows poor performance due to high stress concentration in the ply-drop region.

This thesis has two parts. In the first part, we use the results of new fatigue experiments conducted with variable load levels as well as variable stress ratios to critically assess three (two old and one relatively new) cumulative fatigue damage models. These models are deterministic. Such models are usually tested using multiple blocks of periodic loading with differing amplitudes. However, available data pertains to zero-mean loading, and does not investigate the role of variable stress ratio (Smin/Smax). Here, we present experimental results for variable stress ratios. Two specimen geometries and two materials (Al 2014and Al 2024)are tested. Manson’s double linear damage rule (DLDR)gives the highest accuracy in predicting the experimental outcome, even in the presence of variable stress ratios, whereas predictions of the newer model (“A constructive empirical theory for metal fatigue under block cyclic loading,” Proceedings of the Royal Society A, 464 (2008), 1161-1179) are slightly inferior. The widely used Miner’s rule is least accurate in terms of prediction. The merits and drawbacks of these models, in light of the experimental results, are as follows. The DLDR, though accurate, has minor scientific inconsistencies and no clear generalization. The constructive model has possible generalizability and more appealing scientific consistency, but presently has poorer accuracy. Miner’s rule, least accurate, lies within the constructive approach for special parameter values. The DLDR can guide the new (constructive)approach through new parameter fitting criteria. In the second part of this thesis, we consider the scatter in fatigue life and use the Weibull distribution to describe ‘S-N-P’ curves. We first assume homoscedasticity (load-independent or constant variance) and present a way to draw a p-percentile line on a log-log load-life plot. Then heteroscedasticity (load-dependent variance) in fatigue life is incorporated and a simple statistical model is proposed, to obtain a straight line percentile plot at a pre-specified probability of survival ps. The proposed method is illustrated for Al 2014-T6 and Al 2024-T4 data sets (extracted manually) from MMPDS-01 (a data handbook).

Das Örtliche Konzept dient der Berechnung von Lebensdauern zyklisch belasteter Konstruktionen. Dabei wird die Ermüdungsfestigkeit des ungekerbten Werkstoffes zugrundegelegt, um die Bauteillebensdauer abzuschätzen. Mit dieser Annahme verbunden ist ein starke Vereinfachung des Ermüdungsvorganges. Die Ursache ist die unzureichende Berücksichtigung wesentlicher Einflußgrößen, die die Festigkeit des interessierenden Bauteiles bestimmen und die andere Ausprägung als an der Werkstoffprobe erfahren. Dadurch ist die Zuverlässigkeit der Rechnung reduziert. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht und klassifiziert die Ursachen für dieses Übertragbarkeitsproblem. Mit einem sehr flexiblen multiplikativen Ansatz, der technologischen, statistischen und spannungsemchanischen Effekt berücksichtigt, läßt sich der Unterschied zwischen Festigkeit des Bauteils und der Werkstoffprobe rechnerisch erfassen. Zur numerischen Betrachtung technologischer und statistischer Einflüsse kann auf bereits bestehendes Wissen zurückgegriffen werden. Dies wird konzeptbezogen und mit Rücksicht auf die Anwendung angepaßt. Die Berücksichtigung des spannungsmechanischen Einflusses hingegen kann nicht von Bestehendem abgeleitet werden. Dazu wird aus einer umfangreichen Sammlung experimenteller Ergebnisse dieser Einflufaktor abgeleitet. Aus der so gegebenen Stichprobe lassen sich durch eine statistische Auswertung eine Reihe von Kennwerten identifizieren, die die Stützwirkung maßgeblich beeinflussen. Darauf aufbauend wird eine Bestimmungsgleichung für den spannungsmechanischen Einflußfaktor abgeleitet. Somit ist ein Stützwirkungskonzept geschaffen, das es erlaubt, die drei wesentliche Aspekte technologischen, statistischen und spannungsmechanischen Einfluß qualitativ uind quantitativ ins Örtliche Konzept zu integrieren. Mit dieser Vorgehsweise und einer vorliegenden Werkstoffwöhlerlinie läßt sich die bauteilspezifische Festigkeit abschätzen. Die so abgeleitete Wöhlerlinie erlaubt eine wesentlich genauere Lebensdauerberechnung, wie die Kotrolle an umfangreichen, unabhängigen Daten beweist. / The local strain concept serves to estimate the service life of cyclically loaded structures. Here the fatigue strength of the mere material coupon is taken as the basis in the calculation for notched components. This represents a distinct simplification of the complex fatigue process because of disregarding the relevant influences that determine strength and durability. By that the reliability of the calculation is not yet satisfying. The present investigation first classifies the reasons for this problem of transferabillity between notched component and unnotched specimen. A simple but flexible approach is used to describe the technological, statistical and and gradient effect. To consider the technological influences and statistical size effect numerically, known relationships and procedures are taken and adapted to the methodology of the concept. To catch gradient effects a new stress-relief-concept was developed. From a comprehensive database of experimental results gradient effects were were separated. By a statistical analysis relevant variables that govern the stress-relief are identified. Using these, an equation gets derived which enables to compute the gradient effects on fatigue strength. The developed stress-relief-concept allows to estimate a component-related strain(parameter-)-life-curve. Lifetime predictioins based on this are by far more reliable than those based on materials data only. This is verified by a check on an extensive and independent database.

Le couplage des traitements de surface mécaniques et thermochimiques a fait l’objet de nombreuses études ces dernières années. L’objectif d’un tel couplage est l’amélioration des cinétiques de diffusion d’espèces chimiques résultant en une augmentation des profondeurs de diffusion, et/ou une diminution de la température du traitement thermochimique sur les matériaux prétraités mécaniquement. Dans cette thèse, le procédé SMAT (Surface Mechanical Attrition Treatment) de nanocristallisation superficiel par déformation plastique sévère a été combiné avec la nitruration plasma sur un acier inoxydable 316L de qualité médicale. Ce procédé duplex permet une amélioration notable sur la capacité de diffusion de l’azote sous la surface de l’acier SMATé. Une étape intermédiaire entre le SMAT et la nitruration plasma a été proposée ; son rôle significatif pour la diffusion de l’azote a été démontré. Ainsi, la comparaison des résultats obtenus après la nitruration plasma sur les échantillons SMATés avec ceux uniquement nitrurés a permis de constater une augmentation jusqu’à 60% de l’épaisseur des couches nitrurées. Par ailleurs, de nombreux moyens de caractérisation ont été mis en œuvre à travers divers essais mécaniques de fatigue et de tribologie. Un modèle numérique multi-échelle de diffusion a également été développé pour simuler les profils de concentration d’azote après traitement duplex. Les profils de concentration d’azote simulés sont en bon accord avec les résultats expérimentaux / Coupled mechanical and thermochemical surface treatments have been the subject of much research effort in recent years. The goal of such a coupling is to improve diffusion kinetics leading to increased penetration depths, and/or to decrease the treatment temperature for mechanically pretreated materials. In this work, SMAT (Surface Mechanical Attrittion Treatment), used to refine the grain size by severe plastic deformation, is combined with plasma nitriding of a 316L medical-grade stainless steel. This duplex process significantly improves nitrogen diffusion. An intermediate treatment between SMAT and plasma nitriding is also proposed and its significant effect on the nitrogen diffusion is demonstrated. Comparisons between nitrided-only samples and duplex-treated samples have shown up to 60% increase of the nitrided layer thickness. In order to better understand the link between the generated microstructures and the mechanical fatigue and tribological responses, the samples have been characterised by many different techniques. Also, a multiscale numerical model of the diffusion process is proposed in order to simulate the nitrogen concentration profiles after duplex treatment. The simulated and experimental profiles correspond rather well

Le grenaillage est souvent utilisé sur les pieds d’aube de turbine haute pression afin de retarder l’apparition des fissures dans les zones de concentration de contraintes. Ce traitement de surface génère des contraintes résiduelles et de l’écrouissage en surface de la pièce, ce qui influe sur sa durée de vie. L’enjeu de cette thèse est de mettre en place une méthodologie permettant de prendre en compte cet état mécanique initial, ainsi que son évolution en service, dans l’analyse de durée de vie d’une aube élaborée en superalliage monocristallin à base de nickel (AM1). Tout d’abord, cet état mécanique (contraintes résiduelles et écrouissage) est déterminé expérimentalement. Les contraintes résiduelles sont notamment évaluées par diffraction des rayons X en utilisant la méthode d’Ortner. Cet état mécanique est ensuite introduit dans les calculs de structure. Pour cela, on s’inspire de la méthode connue de l’introduction directe du champ d’eigenstrains qui est, ensuite, étendue afin d’introduire également les variables d’écrouissage ainsi que l’état mécanique anisotrope complet dans toute la structure. L’étape suivante a visé à suivre expérimentalement et à modéliser l’évolution de ces quantités sous sollicitations thermique, d’une part et cycliques à température constante (650°C), d’autre part. Enfin, la chaîne complète de calcul de durée de vie de l’AM1 est appliquée afin d’analyser la durée de vie des éprouvettes grenaillées. Les résultats obtenus sont discutés en regard des essais de fatigue effectués sur éprouvettes représentatives / Shot-peening is widely used on roots of high pressure turbine blade to postpone crack initiation in stress concentration area. This pre-stressing introduces compressive residual stress and strain hardening in a surface layer which will influence lifetime. The aim of this thesis is to propose a methodology which allows taking into account the impact of such pre-stressing and their evolution on the fatigue behaviour of a single crystal nickel-based superalloy (AM1) used for high pressure turbine blades. Firstly, the experimental work is devoted to the determination of the initial mechanical state (residual stresses and strain hardening). Residual stresses are namely determined using X-ray diffraction involving the use of a specific method developed by Ortner. This experimental initial mechanical state is then introduced as an input in structure calculation. The well-known method involving the direct introduction of eigenstrain profiles is used and improved to also introduce strain hardening variables and the complete anisotropic mechanical state in all the integration points of the structure. The next step consist in following experimentally and modeling the evolution of these quantities under thermal and mechanical loads under an uniform temperature (650°C). Finally, the complete lifetime assessment is carried out on representative shot-peened samples. Results are discussed with respect to experimental fatigue tests

<p align="justify">The conservation of structures of the historical heritage is an increasing concern nowadays for public authorities. The technical design phase of repair operations for these structures is of prime importance. Such operations usually require an estimation of the residual strength and of the potential structural failure modes of structures to optimize the choice of the repairing techniques.</p> <p><p align="justify">Although rules of thumb and codes are widely used, numerical simulations now start to emerge as valuable tools. Such alternative methods may be useful in this respect only if they are able to account realistically for the possibly complex failure modes of masonry in structural applications.</p><p><p align="justify">The mechanical behaviour of masonry is characterized by the properties of its constituents (bricks and mortar joints) and their stacking mode. Structural failure mechanisms are strongly connected to the mesostructure of the material, with strong localization and damage-induced anisotropy.</p><p><p align="justify">The currently available numerical tools for this material are mostly based on approaches incorporating only one scale of representation. Mesoscopic models are used in order to study structural details with an explicit representation of the constituents and of their behaviour. The range of applicability of these descriptions is however restricted by computational costs. At the other end of the spectrum, macroscopic descriptions used in structural computations rely on phenomenological constitutive laws representing the collective behaviour of the constituents. As a result, these macroscopic models are difficult to identify and sometimes lead to wrong failure mode predictions.</p><p><p align="justify">The purpose of this study is to bridge the gap between mesoscopic and macroscopic representations and to propose a computational methodology for the analysis of plane masonry walls. To overcome the drawbacks of existing approaches, a multi-scale framework is used which allows to include mesoscopic behaviour features in macroscopic descriptions, without the need for an a priori postulated macroscopic constitutive law. First, a mesoscopic constitutive description is defined for the quasi-brittle constituents of the masonry material, the failure of which mainly occurs through stiffness degradation. The mesoscopic description is therefore based on a scalar damage model. Plane stress and generalized plane state assumptions are used at the mesoscopic scale, leading to two-dimensional macroscopic continuum descriptions. Based on periodic homogenization techniques and unit cell computations, it is shown that the identified mesoscopic constitutive setting allows to reproduce the characteristic shape of (anisotropic) failure envelopes observed experimentally. The failure modes corresponding to various macroscopic loading directions are also shown to be correctly captured. The in-plane failure mechanisms are correctly represented by a plane stress description, while the generalized plane state assumption, introducing simplified three-dimensional effects, is shown to be needed to represent out-of-plane failure under biaxial compressive loading. Macroscopic damage-induced anisotropy resulting from the constituents' stacking mode in the material, which is complex to represent properly using macroscopic phenomenological constitutive equations, is here obtained in a natural fashion. The identified mesoscopic description is introduced in a scale transition procedure to infer the macroscopic response of the material. The first-order computational homogenization technique is used for this purpose to extract this response from unit cells. Damage localization eventually appears as a natural outcome of the quasi-brittle nature of the constituents. The onset of macroscopic localization is treated as a material bifurcation phenomenon and is detected from an eigenvalue analysis of the homogenized acoustic tensor obtained from the scale transition procedure together with a limit point criterion. The macroscopic localization orientations obtained with this type of detection are shown to be strongly related to the underlying mesostructural failure modes in the unit cells.</p> <p><p align="justify">A well-posed macroscopic description is preserved by embedding localization bands at the macroscopic localization onset, with a width directly deduced from the initial periodicity of the mesostructure of the material. This allows to take into account the finite size of the fracturing zone in the macroscopic description. As a result of mesoscopic damage localization in narrow zones of the order of a mortar joint, the material response computationally deduced from unit cells may exhibit a snap-back behaviour. This precludes the use of such a response in the standard strain-driven multi-scale scheme.</p> <p><p align="justify">Adaptations of the multi-scale framework required to treat the mesostructural response snap-back are proposed. This multi-scale framework is finally applied for a typical confined shear wall problem, which allows to verify its ability to represent complex structural failure modes.</p><p> / Doctorat en sciences appliquées / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Carbon Fiber / Epoxy Laminates are increasingly being used in the primary structure of aircraft. To make effective use these materials, it is necessary to consider the ability of a laminate to resist damage, as well as material strength and stiffness. A possible means for improving damage tolerance is the use of non-traditional composite laminates, in which the longitudinal 0 plies are replaced with 5 or 10 plies. The main objectives of this collaborative Georgia Tech / Boeing research was the characterization of these non-traditional laminates, and the determination of appropriate lamina-level analytical techniques that are capable of predicting the changes caused by the use of slightly off-axis longitudinal plies. A quasi-isotropic [45/90/-45/theta/45/90/-45/-theta]s and hard [45/theta/-45/theta/90/45]s lay-up, where theta =0,5 or 10, were tested in open hole tension, filled hole tension, open hole compression, single shear bearing, and unnotched tension. These coupon level tests illustrated the effects of lay-up, notch constraint, and load type on traditional and non-traditional laminates. Die penetrant enhanced in-situ radiography was performed to determine the extent of damage suppression. The use of non-traditional laminates was found to reduce longitudinal ply cracking and delamination, with significant effect on the stress distribution around the notch. The use of non-traditional laminates also resulted in a 15%-20% improvement in bearing strength of the traditional laminates. Several predictive techniques were implemented to evaluate their ability to predict the effect of slight changes in ply orientations. A progressive damage model was written to compare Tsai-Wu, Hashin, and Maximum Stress unnotched strength criterion. Additionally, several semi-empirical failure theories for notched strength prediction were compared with linear and bi-linear cohesive zone models to determine applicability to non-traditional laminates.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This study seeks to improve the understanding of inlet conditions of a large rotor-stator cavity in a turbofan engine, often referred to as the drive cone cavity (DCC). The inlet flow is better understood through a higher fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of the inlet to the cavity, and a coupled finite element (FE) thermal to CFD fluid analysis of the cavity in order to accurately predict engine component temperatures. Accurately predicting temperature distribution in the cavity is important because temperatures directly affect the material properties including Young's modulus, yield strength, fatigue strength, creep properties. All of these properties directly affect the life of critical engine components. In addition, temperatures cause thermal expansion which changes clearances and in turn affects engine efficiency. The DCC is fed from the last stage of the high pressure compressor. One of its primary functions is to purge the air over the rotor wall to prevent it from overheating. Aero-thermal conditions within the DCC cavity are particularly challenging to predict due to the complex air flow and high heat transfer in the rotating component. Thus, in order to accurately predict metal temperatures a two-way coupled CFD-FE analysis is needed. Historically, when the cavity airflow is modeled for engine design purposes, the inlet condition has been over-simplified for the CFD analysis which impacts the results, particularly in the region around the compressor disc rim. The inlet is typically simplified by circumferentially averaging the velocity field at the inlet to the cavity which removes the effect of pressure wakes from the upstream rotor blades. The way in which these non-axisymmetric flow characteristics affect metal temperatures is not well understood. In addition, a constant air temperature scaled from a previous analysis is used as the simplified cavity inlet air temperature. Therefore, the objectives of this study are: (a) model the DCC cavity with a more physically representative inlet condition while coupling the solid thermal analysis and compressible air flow analysis that includes the fluid velocity, pressure, and temperature fields; (b) run a coupled analysis whose boundary conditions come from computational models, rather than thermocouple data; (c) validate the model using available experimental data; and (d) based on the validation, determine if the model can be used to predict air inlet and metal temperatures for new engine geometries. Verification with experimental results showed that the coupled analysis with the 3D no-bolt CFD model with predictive boundary conditions, over-predicted the HP6 offtake temperature by 16k. The maximum error was an over-prediction of 50k while the average error was 17k. The predictive model with 3D bolts also predicted cavity temperatures with an average error of 17k. For the two CFD models with predicted boundary conditions, the case without bolts performed better than the case with bolts. This is due to the flow errors caused by placing stationary bolts in a rotating reference frame. Therefore it is recommended that this type of analysis only be attempted for drive cone cavities with no bolts or shielded bolts.

Das Örtliche Konzept dient der Berechnung von Lebensdauern zyklisch belasteter Konstruktionen. Dabei wird die Ermüdungsfestigkeit des ungekerbten Werkstoffes zugrundegelegt, um die Bauteillebensdauer abzuschätzen. Mit dieser Annahme verbunden ist ein starke Vereinfachung des Ermüdungsvorganges. Die Ursache ist die unzureichende Berücksichtigung wesentlicher Einflußgrößen, die die Festigkeit des interessierenden Bauteiles bestimmen und die andere Ausprägung als an der Werkstoffprobe erfahren. Dadurch ist die Zuverlässigkeit der Rechnung reduziert. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht und klassifiziert die Ursachen für dieses Übertragbarkeitsproblem. Mit einem sehr flexiblen multiplikativen Ansatz, der technologischen, statistischen und spannungsemchanischen Effekt berücksichtigt, läßt sich der Unterschied zwischen Festigkeit des Bauteils und der Werkstoffprobe rechnerisch erfassen. Zur numerischen Betrachtung technologischer und statistischer Einflüsse kann auf bereits bestehendes Wissen zurückgegriffen werden. Dies wird konzeptbezogen und mit Rücksicht auf die Anwendung angepaßt. Die Berücksichtigung des spannungsmechanischen Einflusses hingegen kann nicht von Bestehendem abgeleitet werden. Dazu wird aus einer umfangreichen Sammlung experimenteller Ergebnisse dieser Einflufaktor abgeleitet. Aus der so gegebenen Stichprobe lassen sich durch eine statistische Auswertung eine Reihe von Kennwerten identifizieren, die die Stützwirkung maßgeblich beeinflussen. Darauf aufbauend wird eine Bestimmungsgleichung für den spannungsmechanischen Einflußfaktor abgeleitet. Somit ist ein Stützwirkungskonzept geschaffen, das es erlaubt, die drei wesentliche Aspekte technologischen, statistischen und spannungsmechanischen Einfluß qualitativ uind quantitativ ins Örtliche Konzept zu integrieren. Mit dieser Vorgehsweise und einer vorliegenden Werkstoffwöhlerlinie läßt sich die bauteilspezifische Festigkeit abschätzen. Die so abgeleitete Wöhlerlinie erlaubt eine wesentlich genauere Lebensdauerberechnung, wie die Kotrolle an umfangreichen, unabhängigen Daten beweist. / The local strain concept serves to estimate the service life of cyclically loaded structures. Here the fatigue strength of the mere material coupon is taken as the basis in the calculation for notched components. This represents a distinct simplification of the complex fatigue process because of disregarding the relevant influences that determine strength and durability. By that the reliability of the calculation is not yet satisfying. The present investigation first classifies the reasons for this problem of transferabillity between notched component and unnotched specimen. A simple but flexible approach is used to describe the technological, statistical and and gradient effect. To consider the technological influences and statistical size effect numerically, known relationships and procedures are taken and adapted to the methodology of the concept. To catch gradient effects a new stress-relief-concept was developed. From a comprehensive database of experimental results gradient effects were were separated. By a statistical analysis relevant variables that govern the stress-relief are identified. Using these, an equation gets derived which enables to compute the gradient effects on fatigue strength. The developed stress-relief-concept allows to estimate a component-related strain(parameter-)-life-curve. Lifetime predictioins based on this are by far more reliable than those based on materials data only. This is verified by a check on an extensive and independent database.