Rupture of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a catastrophic event that leads to high mortality and morbidity in patients. The primary causes associated with aneurysm rupture remain poorly understood despite rigorous investigations. Reports have shown that AAA that went on to rupture or present ruptured had higher peak wall tension (stress resultant) than those that did not go on to rupture or present ruptured. Studies investigating the material strength of ruptured AAA and unruptured AAA revealed that the uniaxial failure strength in ruptured AAA is no different on average than unruptured AAA. However, it is poorly understood whether uniaxial failure properties are reliable as they are not indicative of the manner in which failure occurs in biological soft tissues. Multi-axial failure properties using a bubble inflation test (BIT) have been implemented by various groups but have not been directly compared against uniaxial failure properties. The current study seeks to develop a BIT apparatus, to compare multi-axial and uniaxial failure properties of fibrous anisotropic biological soft tissues (bovine aorta) and non-fibrous isotropic molded silicon, and to perform a survey of computational indices at the rupture sites of four ruptured AAA. Two versions of the BIT apparatus were developed: a manual that was developed allows for a large amount of failure properties to be extracted that can identify localized weaknesses. It was found that circumferentially oriented multi-axial failure was correlated with longitudinally oriented uniaxial failure properties, however, for oblique oriented multi-axial failure the correlation decreased. Utilizing the insights gained from the multi-axial experiments it was determined that the failure properties used in the computational study with the data from Raghavan et al. were appropriate for use in retrospective assessment of the rupture site in four ruptured AAA computational models. Although the study was inconclusive in finding causation, the rupture line of each aneurysm had indices ranging between the third quartile and peak values for tension to failure tension ratio, nodal displacement magnitude, strain energy per unit volume and strain energy per unit surface area. This study provides a framework for interrogating failure properties at a higher density of measurement and a heterogeneous computational model that has the potential to predict AAA rupture in the future.

Les tôles magnétiques en alliage de fer-silicium jouent un rôle de premier plan dans la construction des machines électriques grâce à l'excellent compromis qu'elles réalisent entre qualités techniques et coût. Les circuits magnétiques des machines électriques sont alors constitués d'empilements de ces tôles très minces (épaisseur inférieure au millimètre) préalablement découpées aux dimensions du circuit magnétique, mais cette découpe affecte les propriétés magnétiques des toles. Le but de notre étude est la modélisation des effets de la découpe sur le comportement magnétique de tôles de fer-silicium. Pour y parvenir, nous caractérisons expérimentalement les déformations plastiques en surface de rondelles poinçonnées par le biais de techniques de corrélation d'images. Puis, nous modélisons les contraintes résiduelles associées au champ de déformation plastique induit par la découpe à partir d'un modèle simplifié de ce mécanisme. Cette analyse met en évidence des contraintes résiduelles de faibles amplitudes mais dont le rayon d'action est suffisant pour affecter le comportement magnétique global de telles structures poinçonnées. La prise en compte de l'influence de ce type de contraintes dans un calcul magnéto-mécanique couplé est actuellement limitée car les modèles existants ne restituent pas correctement le caractère multiaxial du phénomène. <br />Pour résoudre ce problème dans le cas des tôles ferromagnétiques, nous avons mis en oeuvre un dispositif original alliant mesure magnétiques et sollicitations mécaniques biaxiales en traction/compression pour des tôles minces. <br />Ainsi, nous avons mis en évidence les faiblesses des modèles existants et rendu possible l'exploration systématique du comportement magnétique sous chargement mécaniques biaxiaux.

Fatigue failures of driveline and suspensions components for ground vehicles under multiaxial loading conditions are common, since most those components are subjected to complex multiaxial loadings in service. In addition to the multiaxial loadings, many of those components contain notches and geometrical irregularities where the fatigue failure often occurs due to stress concentrations. Therefore, the origins of the multiaxiality can be related to various combinations of external loadings and notch geometries. A computational fatigue analysis methodology has been proposed here for performing multiaxial fatigue life prediction for notched components using analytical and numerical methods. The proposed multiaxial fatigue analysis methodology consists of an elastic-plastic stress/strain model and a multiaxial fatigue damage parameter. The multiaxial stress-strain notch analysis method originally proposed by Buczynski and Glinka is adapted to develop the elastic-plastic stress/strain model to compute local stress-strain responses using linear elastic FE results of notched components. An original multiaxial fatigue damage parameter based on the maximum fatigue damage plane is proposed to predict the fatigue life for notched components under multiaxial loadings. Results of the proposed multiaxial fatigue analysis methodology are compared to sets of experimental data published in the literature to verify the prediction capability of the elastic-plastic stress/strain model and the multiaxial fatigue damage parameter. Based on the comparison between calculated results and experimental data, it is found that the multiaxial elastic-plastic stress/strain model correlates well with experimental strain data for SAE 1070 steel notched shafts subjected to several non-proportional load paths. The proposed multiaxial fatigue damage parameter, when applied to the uniaxial loading to account for the mean stress effect on fatigue life, is found to correlate very well with four sets of experimental uniaxial mean stress fatigue data. In the case of multiaxial loadings, the proposed multiaxial fatigue damage parameter provides very good correlation with experimental fatigue data of thin-walled tube specimens of 1045 steel and Inconel 718. In addition, the proposed fatigue damage parameter is found to correlate reasonably well with experimental fatigue data of SAE 1045 steel notched shafts subjected to proportional and non-proportional loadings. The proposed multiaxial fatigue analysis methodology enables rapid durability evaluation for notched components design. The effect of changes in material, geometry and loads on the fatigue life can then be assessed in a short time frame. The proposed multiaxial fatigue analysis methodology provides more efficient and appropriate analysis methods preferable to very expensive experimental durability tests and more complex and time consuming life prediction methods using non-linear FE stress-strain analysis.

Nanocrystalline (NC) metals and alloys are known to possess superior mechanical properties, e.g., strength, hardness, and wear-resistance, as compared to conventional microcrystalline materials. NC metals are characterized by a mean grain size <100 nm; in this grain size regime, inelastic deformation can occur via a combination of interface-mediated mechanisms viz., grain boundary sliding/migration, and dislocation nucleation from grain boundary sources. Recent studies have suggested that these interface-mediated inelastic deformation mechanisms in fcc metals are influenced by non-glide stresses and interfacial free volume, unlike dislocation glide mechanisms that operate in microcrystalline fcc metals. Further, observations of tension-compression strength asymmetry in NC metals raise the possibility that yield and inelastic flow in these materials may not be adequately described by solely the deviatoric stress. Unfortunately, most literature concerning the mechanical testing of NC metals is limited to uniaxial deformation or nanoindentation techniques, and the multiaxial deformation behavior is often predicted assuming initially isotropic yield and subsequent flow normal to the yield surface. The primary objective of this thesis is to obtain a better understanding of the nature of inelasticity in NC metals by simulating multiaxial deformation at the atomistic resolution, and developing methods to interpret the results in ways that would be useful from a continuum constitutive modeling viewpoint. First, we have presented a novel, statistical mechanics-based approach to unambiguously resolve the elastic-plastic transition as an avalanche in the proliferation of mobile defects. This approach is applied to nanocrystalline Cu to explore the influence of pressure and multiaxial stress states on the inelastic deformation behavior. The results suggest that initial yield in nanocrystalline Cu under biaxial loading is only weakly anisotropic in the 5 nm grain size regime, and that plastic flow evolves in a direction normal to the von Mises yield surface. However, triaxial deformation simulations reveal a significant effect of the superimposed hydrostatic stress on yielding under shear. These results are analyzed in detail in order to assess the influence of pre-existing internal stresses and interfacial excess volume on the inelastic deformation behavior. Further, we have studied the effects of imposed hydrostatic pressure on the shear deformation behavior of Cu bicrystals containing symmetric tilt interfaces, as well as Cu nanocrystals of different grain sizes. Most interfaces exhibit an increase in shear strength with imposed compressive hydrostatic pressure. However, for some interfaces, this trend is reversed. Neither the sign nor the magnitude of the pressure-induced elevation in shear strength appears to correlate with interface structure or particular deformation mechanism(s). In Cu nanocrystals, we observe that imposed compressive pressure leads to strengthening under shear deformation, and the effect of imposed pressure on the shear strength becomes stronger with increase in grain size or temperature. Activation parameters for shear deformation have been computed for these nanocrystals, and computed values seem to agree with existing experimental and theoretical estimates. Finally, we have proposed some modifications to conventional isothermal molecular dynamics algorithms, in order to isolate dislocation nucleation events from interfacial sources, and thereby permit explicit computation of the activation parameters for such events.

Fatigue failures of driveline and suspensions components for ground vehicles under multiaxial loading conditions are common, since most those components are subjected to complex multiaxial loadings in service. In addition to the multiaxial loadings, many of those components contain notches and geometrical irregularities where the fatigue failure often occurs due to stress concentrations. Therefore, the origins of the multiaxiality can be related to various combinations of external loadings and notch geometries. A computational fatigue analysis methodology has been proposed here for performing multiaxial fatigue life prediction for notched components using analytical and numerical methods. The proposed multiaxial fatigue analysis methodology consists of an elastic-plastic stress/strain model and a multiaxial fatigue damage parameter. The multiaxial stress-strain notch analysis method originally proposed by Buczynski and Glinka is adapted to develop the elastic-plastic stress/strain model to compute local stress-strain responses using linear elastic FE results of notched components. An original multiaxial fatigue damage parameter based on the maximum fatigue damage plane is proposed to predict the fatigue life for notched components under multiaxial loadings. Results of the proposed multiaxial fatigue analysis methodology are compared to sets of experimental data published in the literature to verify the prediction capability of the elastic-plastic stress/strain model and the multiaxial fatigue damage parameter. Based on the comparison between calculated results and experimental data, it is found that the multiaxial elastic-plastic stress/strain model correlates well with experimental strain data for SAE 1070 steel notched shafts subjected to several non-proportional load paths. The proposed multiaxial fatigue damage parameter, when applied to the uniaxial loading to account for the mean stress effect on fatigue life, is found to correlate very well with four sets of experimental uniaxial mean stress fatigue data. In the case of multiaxial loadings, the proposed multiaxial fatigue damage parameter provides very good correlation with experimental fatigue data of thin-walled tube specimens of 1045 steel and Inconel 718. In addition, the proposed fatigue damage parameter is found to correlate reasonably well with experimental fatigue data of SAE 1045 steel notched shafts subjected to proportional and non-proportional loadings. The proposed multiaxial fatigue analysis methodology enables rapid durability evaluation for notched components design. The effect of changes in material, geometry and loads on the fatigue life can then be assessed in a short time frame. The proposed multiaxial fatigue analysis methodology provides more efficient and appropriate analysis methods preferable to very expensive experimental durability tests and more complex and time consuming life prediction methods using non-linear FE stress-strain analysis.

É conhecida ao longo da história da humanidade a grande quantidade de acidentes vinculados à ação de cargas cíclicas. Há mais de 100 anos, metodologias levam em conta o fenômeno de fadiga em projetos de novos componentes. As metodologias existentes para avaliar a vida em fadiga são empíricas e têm sido aplicadas com sucesso na determinação da vida do componente em fadiga quando o mesmo é submetido a carregamento uniaxial ou a carregamento multiaxial proporcional. Mas a evidencia experimental tem mostrado que quando a solicitação é multiaxial e não proporcional, as leis antes mencionadas deixam de ser adequadas. Dessa forma os critérios clássicos utilizados não preveem corretamente a vida do componente. Neste contexto o presente trabalho avalia algumas das metodologias de fadiga multiaxial não proporcionais disponíveis na bibliografia especializada. Os resultados obtidos com estes métodos são comparados entre sim e com os resultados obtidos utilizando a metodologia de fadiga multiaxial proporcional. Para comparar as metodologias citadas é apresentado um exemplo de solicitação simples, e também a análise do componente de uma máquina agrícola solicitada por um histórico de tensões típicas, obtida a partir do teste da máquina em campo. Finalmente são apresentadas as conclusões sobre as metodologias utilizadas e sobre a importância de levar em conta a não proporcionalidade de um estado de tensões multiaxial oscilantes. / It is known throughout human history the large amount of accidents linked to action of cyclic loading. For over 100 years, methodologies take into account the fatigue phenomenon of new components projects. Existing methodologies for assessing the fatigue life are empirical and have been successfully applied in the determination of fatigue life of the component when it is subjected to uniaxial loading or proportional multiaxial loading. But the experimental evidence has shown that when the request is multiaxial and not proportional, the laws mentioned above are no longer adequate. Thus the classical criteria used not correctly predict component life. In this context, this paper analyzes some of the methodologies of multiaxial fatigue non proportionate available in the relevant literature. The results obtained with these methods are compared with the results so obtained and using the proportional multiaxial fatigue methodology. To compare the methods mentioned is an example of simple request, and also the analysis component of an agricultural machine requested by a history of typical strains, obtained from the machine field testing on a test track. Finally conclusions on the methodologies used and the importance of taking into account the non-proportionality of a state of oscillating multiaxial stresses are presented.

Les élastomères présentent une diversité d’utilisation et des caractéristiques mécaniques spécifiques (grandes déformations, comportement dissipatif, ...) qui en font une famille de matériaux très utilisés dans l’industrie. Lors de leur fonctionnement, les pièces réelles subissent des sollicitations complexes. Comprendre les phénomènes induits par la fatigue multiaxiale constitue ainsi un enjeu important dans la phase de conception industrielle. Le matériau utilisé au cours de cette étude est un polychloroprène (CR), fourni par la société Hutchinson et présent dans les poulies découpleuses. Celui-ci possède une réponse dissipative en grandes déformations. Son comportement est modélisé à partir de lois de comportements viscohyperélastiques suivant deux approches : une méthode analytique impliquant un calcul simple en un point d’un cylindre et l’autre utilisant un calcul éléments finis implémenté dans ANSYS. Une campagne expérimentale en fatigue multiaxiale est alors réalisée, en traction-torsion afin de tester l’énergie dissipée comme critère de fatigue multiaxial. Celui-ci présente des résultats intéressants. Des diagramme de Haigh ont été établis afin de mettre en évidence le phénomène de cristallisation. Des analyses post-mortem ont été menés avec un microscope électronique à balayage et expose des spécificités morphologiques liées à la sollicitation vue par le matériau. / Due to their interesting mechanical behavior (large strain, dissipative behavior ...) and their diversity, elastomers are more and more used in industry. In service conditions, rubber components are subjected to complex loadings. Therefore, understanding phenomena induced by multiaxial fatigue constitutes an important issue in the industrial conception’s step. The material used in this work is a polychloroprene rubber, provided by Huchinson society and dedicated to silent-block’s applications. This elastomer possess a dissipative component at large strains. This behavior is determined following two approaches : an analytic method, implying a simple calculation at a local point of a cylinder and a finite elements analysis implemented with ANSYS software. An experimental investigation in multiaxial fatigue is then realized to test the dissipated energy density as a multiaxial fatigue criterion. This parameter obtained interesting results. Haigh diagrams has been built to point out crystallization phenomenon. Post-mortem analyses has been carried out with a scanning electronic microscope and exposes morphological specificities related to the material’s sollicitation.

abstract: A new critical plane-energy model is proposed in this thesis for multiaxial fatigue life prediction of homogeneous and heterogeneous materials. Brief review of existing methods, especially on the critical plane-based and energy-based methods, are given first. Special focus is on one critical plane approach which has been shown to work for both brittle and ductile metals. The key idea is to automatically change the critical plane orientation with respect to different materials and stress states. One potential drawback of the developed model is that it needs an empirical calibration parameter for non-proportional multiaxial loadings since only the strain terms are used and the out-of-phase hardening cannot be considered. The energy-based model using the critical plane concept is proposed with help of the Mroz-Garud hardening rule to explicitly include the effect of non-proportional hardening under fatigue cyclic loadings. Thus, the empirical calibration for non-proportional loading is not needed since the out-of-phase hardening is naturally included in the stress calculation. The model predictions are compared with experimental data from open literature and it is shown the proposed model can work for both proportional and non-proportional loadings without the empirical calibration. Next, the model is extended for the fatigue analysis of heterogeneous materials integrating with finite element method. Fatigue crack initiation of representative volume of heterogeneous materials is analyzed using the developed critical plane-energy model and special focus is on the microstructure effect on the multiaxial fatigue life predictions. Several conclusions and future work is drawn based on the proposed study. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Mechanical Engineering 2016

É conhecida ao longo da história da humanidade a grande quantidade de acidentes vinculados à ação de cargas cíclicas. Há mais de 100 anos, metodologias levam em conta o fenômeno de fadiga em projetos de novos componentes. As metodologias existentes para avaliar a vida em fadiga são empíricas e têm sido aplicadas com sucesso na determinação da vida do componente em fadiga quando o mesmo é submetido a carregamento uniaxial ou a carregamento multiaxial proporcional. Mas a evidencia experimental tem mostrado que quando a solicitação é multiaxial e não proporcional, as leis antes mencionadas deixam de ser adequadas. Dessa forma os critérios clássicos utilizados não preveem corretamente a vida do componente. Neste contexto o presente trabalho avalia algumas das metodologias de fadiga multiaxial não proporcionais disponíveis na bibliografia especializada. Os resultados obtidos com estes métodos são comparados entre sim e com os resultados obtidos utilizando a metodologia de fadiga multiaxial proporcional. Para comparar as metodologias citadas é apresentado um exemplo de solicitação simples, e também a análise do componente de uma máquina agrícola solicitada por um histórico de tensões típicas, obtida a partir do teste da máquina em campo. Finalmente são apresentadas as conclusões sobre as metodologias utilizadas e sobre a importância de levar em conta a não proporcionalidade de um estado de tensões multiaxial oscilantes. / It is known throughout human history the large amount of accidents linked to action of cyclic loading. For over 100 years, methodologies take into account the fatigue phenomenon of new components projects. Existing methodologies for assessing the fatigue life are empirical and have been successfully applied in the determination of fatigue life of the component when it is subjected to uniaxial loading or proportional multiaxial loading. But the experimental evidence has shown that when the request is multiaxial and not proportional, the laws mentioned above are no longer adequate. Thus the classical criteria used not correctly predict component life. In this context, this paper analyzes some of the methodologies of multiaxial fatigue non proportionate available in the relevant literature. The results obtained with these methods are compared with the results so obtained and using the proportional multiaxial fatigue methodology. To compare the methods mentioned is an example of simple request, and also the analysis component of an agricultural machine requested by a history of typical strains, obtained from the machine field testing on a test track. Finally conclusions on the methodologies used and the importance of taking into account the non-proportionality of a state of oscillating multiaxial stresses are presented.

É conhecida ao longo da história da humanidade a grande quantidade de acidentes vinculados à ação de cargas cíclicas. Há mais de 100 anos, metodologias levam em conta o fenômeno de fadiga em projetos de novos componentes. As metodologias existentes para avaliar a vida em fadiga são empíricas e têm sido aplicadas com sucesso na determinação da vida do componente em fadiga quando o mesmo é submetido a carregamento uniaxial ou a carregamento multiaxial proporcional. Mas a evidencia experimental tem mostrado que quando a solicitação é multiaxial e não proporcional, as leis antes mencionadas deixam de ser adequadas. Dessa forma os critérios clássicos utilizados não preveem corretamente a vida do componente. Neste contexto o presente trabalho avalia algumas das metodologias de fadiga multiaxial não proporcionais disponíveis na bibliografia especializada. Os resultados obtidos com estes métodos são comparados entre sim e com os resultados obtidos utilizando a metodologia de fadiga multiaxial proporcional. Para comparar as metodologias citadas é apresentado um exemplo de solicitação simples, e também a análise do componente de uma máquina agrícola solicitada por um histórico de tensões típicas, obtida a partir do teste da máquina em campo. Finalmente são apresentadas as conclusões sobre as metodologias utilizadas e sobre a importância de levar em conta a não proporcionalidade de um estado de tensões multiaxial oscilantes. / It is known throughout human history the large amount of accidents linked to action of cyclic loading. For over 100 years, methodologies take into account the fatigue phenomenon of new components projects. Existing methodologies for assessing the fatigue life are empirical and have been successfully applied in the determination of fatigue life of the component when it is subjected to uniaxial loading or proportional multiaxial loading. But the experimental evidence has shown that when the request is multiaxial and not proportional, the laws mentioned above are no longer adequate. Thus the classical criteria used not correctly predict component life. In this context, this paper analyzes some of the methodologies of multiaxial fatigue non proportionate available in the relevant literature. The results obtained with these methods are compared with the results so obtained and using the proportional multiaxial fatigue methodology. To compare the methods mentioned is an example of simple request, and also the analysis component of an agricultural machine requested by a history of typical strains, obtained from the machine field testing on a test track. Finally conclusions on the methodologies used and the importance of taking into account the non-proportionality of a state of oscillating multiaxial stresses are presented.