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No description available.

M. S.

Rail is a very expensive component of the railway track. Therefore, research methods extending rail life have great economic importance. During the past thirty years and, particularly during the past ten years there has been an increasing awareness throughout most rail networks in the world of the need to introduce improved design criteria, better construction techniques and higher standard track generally. This implies that quality control at all levels is mandatory if these objectives are to be achieved. With the improved understanding of degradation of track, a more complete comprehension of the costs associated with different operating and infrastructure conditions should also be developed, aiding in the determination of efficient maintenance costs and their contribution to access charges. Track and structures together account for 60% of maintenance costs, with 50% of the total being track. The UIC has done a lot of work on comparative performance indicators, and these show what potential savings much be out there for the taking, just by adopting current best practice. The old wisdom is that it's not enough o do things rights; we have to make sure that we do the right things. These developments have largely resulted from the demand for higher speeds particularly in passenger services and the demand to accept heavier axle loads of freight traffic. Whilst the conventional railway track structure is not likely to change significantly over the next ten years there will be a requirement over that period for better quality track infrastructure. This means less rail surface defects, less internal defects and less wheels irregularities. The presence of rail surface defects generally increases the roughness of the track leading to a poor passenger ride and increased safety risk with freight traffic. In addition, rail surface defects will generally increase the degradation rate of other track components; however, not all defects will produce visible track deterioration. Dynamic impacts produced by the rollingstock running over rail surface defects, such as poor welds, will, over time, create continuous rail defects, loosening of fastenings, abrasion and skewing of sleepers, crushing of ballast and loss of formation geometry. It is only in the recent years that the importance of poor welds in track has been identified. Dips and peaks must be recognised as a severe track irregularity that needs to be addressed and removed. Current maintenance activities have little effect on removing misaligned welds in track and the improvement obtained after the maintenance works is generally short lived. On the other hand, straightening operations have proven to solve the problem and maintain the results following 7 months of traffic. As part of this project, a six kilometre test section was selected on the Mt Isa Line and all welds located in this region were monitored for over 9 months to increase the understanding of the effect of individual maintenance activities on the track roughness. Three 2km Divisions were established; each Division had different maintenance activities and levels of intervention completed over the duration of the project. Over 15,000 readings were recorded and analysed. The following conclusions were drawn. The effect of cycle tamping was clearly identified when comparing the means of weld located in Division 1, 2 to the mean of welds in Division 3. Cycle tamping showed to have a significant positive effect on the dipped welds geometry and an increase in severity of peaked welds prior to their correction. Straightening operations completed in Division 1 and 2 reduced the overall mean of weld misalignments. These Divisions were subjected to different levels of straightening intervention however they produced similar results. Division 1 all dips were straightened and Division 2 only dips &gt0.3mm were straightened. This means that no additional benefit, in terms of overall misalignment of welds, can be gained when straightening operations target dips with a misalignment smaller than 0.3mm. Cycle grinding proved to have little effect on the removal of both dips and peaks. In fact, due to the configuration of the grinding machine, grinding operation produced a slight worsening of the dips misalignments and only a minor improvement of peaks. Although long term monitoring of the site may show minor variations in weld geometry performance, after approximately 3.9 Mgt of traffic the mean of dipped welds in Division 1 and 2 appeared to remain unaltered, as Division 3 showed a minor worsening. Furthermore, the mean of peaked welds in Division 1 and 2 appeared to remain unaltered, as Division 3 showed a minor worsening.

Le travail présenté ici a pour but d’évaluer l’influence de surcharges incidentelles sur le comportement en fatigue de tôles en acier soudées par points et destinées à une application automobile. Une campagne d’essais expérimentale sur éprouvettes a permis d’établir les courbes effort – durée de vie de trois nuances d’acier soudées par point et soumis à des sollicitations de traction-cisaillement soit à amplitude constante (courbe de référence), soit avec des sollicitations incidentelles survenant à raison d’un cycle de surcharge pour 100 cycles appliqués. Les éprouvettes utilisées sont constituées de deux rectangles de tôle assemblés par un point soudé réalisé par un soudage par résistance. Deux rapports de surcharge, 1,4 et 2,3, sont testés et analysés. L’ensemble des cycles de tous les chargements présente le rapport de charge de 0,1 (traction ondulée). Pour deux nuances d’acier, les surcharges périodiques sont bénéfiques à la tenue en fatigue, ils permettent d’augmenter sensiblement la durée de vie. Pour la troisième nuance d’acier en revanche, l’effet enregistré est un affaissement très marqué des propriétés de fatigue. Deux types de ruine par fatigue sont observés, l’un par fissuration des tôles au droit du congé de raccordement du noyau fondu du point soudé sur la tôle, du côté de la zone en traction. L’autre se traduit par un cisaillement du noyau fondu dans le plan de sa section droite minimale et ne se produit qu’à haut niveau d’effort appliqué. Ces calculs par Eléments finis ont mis en évidence des états de contraintes multiaxiaux, principalement de traction et de cisaillement dans les zones expérimentales d’amorçage et de fissuration des éprouvettes. Il est observé de façon très claire une prépondérance de la contrainte de traction là où s’amorce la fissure de fatigue conduisant à la ruine de l’éprouvette par fissuration complète d’une des deux tôles, et une prépondérance tout aussi évidente de la contrainte de cisaillement dans la section minimale du noyau fondu du point soudé où se produit dans certains cas la rupture du point soudé par cisaillement. Les calculs effectués corroborent donc très bien les observations expérimentales. L’utilisation de nouvelles lois d’endommagement basées sur un cumul non linéaire du dommage, dont une qui a été proposée au laboratoire, conduit à une prévision des durées de vie en bon accord avec l’expérimentation alors que la loi de Miner demeure pour sa part très éloignée des résultats expérimentaux. / The objective of this work is to evaluate the influence of incidental overloads on the fatigue behavior of steel plates welded by points and aimed for automobile application. An experimental test campaign on specimens had allowed the establishment of effort curves – life cycle of three types of steel welded by points and subjected to tensile-shear efforts under constant amplitude (reference curve), and with incidental overloads happening once (overloaded cycle) for 100 applied cycles. Specimens used in the test are made of two rectangle plates joined by a welded point and done by resistance welding. Two overloads ratio, 1,4 and 2,3 were tested and analyzed. The overall overloading cycle presents the ratio of 0,1 (undulated tensile effort). For two out of three steel types, the periodicals overloading are benefit in term of fatigue resisting, their life duration has been slightly improved. The third steel type has in contrary showed observable deterioration of fatigue properties.Two types of ruin by fatigue have been observed. The first one shows cracking of plates on the right axle journal fillet of the melted nucleus of the welded point on the plate, in the tensile zone side. The second is showed by a shearing of the melted nucleus in the plan of its minimal right “section” and this happens at a high level of applied effort. Calculation done using Finite Elements method has evidently showed states of multiaxial stresses essentially tensile stress and shearing stress in the experimental areas of starting and cracking of specimens. It is clearly observed a mainly dominant tensile stress where the fatigue cracking starts leading to the ruin of the specimen by the complete cracking of one of the two plates, and also evidently a mainly dominant shearing stress in the minimal section of the melted nucleus of welded point, where in some case the rupture by shearing of the welded point is observed. The calculations done are then in total agreement with the experimental observations. The use of new damage laws, which one has been proposed in the laboratory based on a nonlinear cumulating of damage, leads to a forecasting of life duration in accordance with experimentation while the Miner law results stays far away from the experimental results.

In an effort to obtain 100-year level hurricane protection for southeastern Louisiana, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has implemented design guidelines that both levees and structures shall be designed to. Historically, USACE has used concrete piles or steel H-piles as the foundations for these structures. Because of the magnitude of obtaining 100-year level hurricane protection, limited resources, and a condensed timeline, spiral welded pipe piles can be manufactured as an alternative to either the concrete piles or steel H-piles. This research will provide the necessary background for understanding pile foundations, will compare the behaviors of spiral welded pipe piles to that of other piles with respect to geotechnical concerns through a series of pile load tests, and will offer a current cost analysis. This background, testing, and cost analysis will show that spiral welded pipe piles are a viable alternative for USACE structures from a geotechnical and economic perspective.

Cette étude vise à i) déterminer le trajet de fissuration et la vitesse de propagation de fissure de fatigue dans un joint soudé sollicité en mode mixte ii) de proposer une analyse des interactions fissuration par fatigue/microstructure pour deux classes d'alliages soudés et iii) de proposer des critères de propagation de fissure, basé sur l'analyse des facteurs d'intensité de contrainte (FIC) pour les trois modes de fissuration.Les essais ont été réalisés pour un acier ferritique inoxydable, K41X soudé par gaz inerte, sur des éprouvettes à entaille centrale sous sollicitation uniaxiale pour différentes orientations d'entaille. Pour un assemblage bi-matériaux d'alliages de titane, obtenu par soudure laser de Ti17 et de Ti6242, les essais ont été effectués en condition biaxiale coplanaire sur une éprouvette en croix à entaille centrale à différents taux de cisaillement macroscopique.Pour l'acier, la fissure se propage en mode mixte trans- et intergranulaire dans le métal de base, et en mode transgranulaire uniquement dans la zone fondue (ZF). Néanmoins, c'est seulement en présence de cisaillement macroscopique induit par la géométrie d'entaille que la soudure a conduit à une accélération de la vitesse de fissure par rapport au métal de base. Pour Ti17 le chemin de propagation de fissure et la vitesse de propagation sont très réguliers alors qu'ils sont extrêmement oscillants pour Ti6242, car corrélés aux aiguilles α. La vitesse de fissuration est plus faible dans Ti6242 que dans Ti17 pour une sollicitation d'équibitraction, alors qu'elle est plus élevée dans Ti6242 que dans Ti17 pour un cisaillement macroscopique. Pour les éprouvettes soudées Ti17-Ti6242, le chemin de propagation est relativement régulier dans la ZF mais peut être piloté par l'interface zone affectée thermiquement (ZAT)/ZF. La vitesse est plus élevée dans la ZF que pour les deux métaux de base, alors qu'elle n'est que peu modifiée dans les ZAT.La régularité de la propagation de fissure dans Ti17 a permis d'utiliser ce cas comme un cas de référence dans le cadre de la mécanique linéaire de la rupture et ainsi proposer un critère de ∆Keq fonction des modes de sollicitations I, II et III. Ces résultats ont été obtenus en modélisant le chemin de fissure en surface et le déversement de fissure. L'analyse comparative des propriétés des différents matériaux testés a été menée dans ce cadre. Une analyse de sensibilité à la précision de la modélisation tridimensionnelle de la géométrie de fissure met en évidence le rôle prépondérant de celle-ci sur l'estimation des FIC en mode III et par conséquent sur la valeur de ∆Keq. Cette analyse permet d'expliquer les oscillations de vitesse constatées pour l'alliage Ti6242. / This study is devoted to i) the experimental characterization of fatigue crack path and fatigue crack growth rate (FCGR) for welded materials under mixed mode of loading ii) the analysis of fatigue crack to microstructure interactions for two types of welded materials and iii) the identification of a relevant FCGR criterion function of the mode mixity.The experimental characterization was achieved for a ferritic stainless steel, welded by metal inert gas, using CCT specimens for different orientations of the notch. Biaxial testing was achieved using central crack cross-shaped specimen, varying the shear to opening loading ratio, for a dissimilar welded joint obtained by laser welding of Ti17 and Ti6242 Ti base alloys.For the ferritic stainless steel, the crack is both trans- and intergranular for the base metal, whereas it becomes mainly transgranular for the welded specimen. Nevertheless, very slight modification of the FCGR, comparing base metal and welded material, is observed. The welding was seen to be detrimental only in the case of macroscopic shear loading implied by the geometry of the notch. For Ti17, crack path is very smooth and FCGR evolves regularly as a function of the stress intensity factor (SIF). Instead of what, for Ti6242 alloy, both the crack path and the FCGR present large amplitudes of oscillation, due to a strong interaction with alpha needles. The FCGR is lower in Ti6242 than in Ti17 for equibiaxial fatigue, whereas the FCGR is higher in Ti6242 than in Ti17 for macroscopic shear fatigue loading. For welded Ti17-Ti6242 specimens, FCGR is higher than observed in base metal for crack within the fusion zone (FZ), and tends to the FCGR of the associated base metal to each heat-affected zone (HAZ-Ti17 and HAZ-Ti6242).The case of Ti17 was seen to be relevant to determine an equivalent SIF function of mode mixity within the scope of LEFM. An original criterion has been established taking into consideration mode I, II and III. The numerical model describes explicitly both surface crack path and flat to slant orientation of the crack. This criterion has been successfully applied to both Ti and Fe base alloys, for base metal as well as for welded materials in order to determine the impact of welding on FCGR. At last but not least, the sensitivity of SIF values to the accuracy of the 3D modelling of the crack surface has been tested. Thus the local roughness of the crack path is seen to drastically impact the out-of-plane shear mode, which is in turn fully consistent with acceleration/deceleration of the crack observed for Ti6242 alloy.

Student Number : 9811923K - PhD thesis - School of Mechanical Engineering - Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment / Methods are presented for obtaining models used for predicting welded sample resistance and effective weld current (RMS) for desired weld diameter (weld quality) in the resistance spot welding process. These models were used to design predictive controllers for the welding process. A suitable process model forms an important step in the development and design of process controllers for achieving good weld quality with good reproducibility. Effective current, dynamic resistance and applied electrode force are identified as important input parameters necessary to predict the output weld diameter. These input parameters are used for the process model and design of a predictive controller. A three parameter empirical model with dependent and independent variables was used for curve fitting the nonlinear halfwave dynamic resistance. The estimates of the parameters were used to develop charts for determining overall resistance of samples for any desired weld diameter. Estimating resistance for samples welded in the machines from which dataset obtained were used to plot the chart yielded accurate results. However using these charts to estimate sample resistance for new and unknown machines yielded high estimation error. To improve the prediction accuracy the same set of data generated from the model were used to train four different neural network types. These were the Generalised Feed Forward (GFF) neural network, Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) network, Radial Basis Function (RBF) and Recurrent neural network (RNN). Of the four network types trained, the MLP had the least mean square error for training and cross validation of 0.00037 and 0.00039 respectively with linear correlation coefficient in testing of 0.999 and maximum estimation error range from 0.1% to 3%. A prediction accuracy of about 97% to 99.9%. This model was selected for the design and implementation of the controller for predicting overall sample resistance. Using this predicted overall sample resistance, and applied electrode force, a second model was developed for predicting required effective weld current for any desired weld diameter. The prediction accuracy of this model was in the range of 94% to 99%. The neural network predictive controller was designed using the MLP neural network models. The controller outputs effective current for any desired weld diameter and is observed to track the desired output accurately with same prediction accuracy of the model used which was about 94% to 99%. The controller works by utilizing the neural network output embedded in Microsoft Excel as a digital link library and is able to generate outputs for given inputs on activating the process by the push of a command button.

As lajes dos tabuleiros de pontes de concreto armado, sejam elas maciças ou executadas com pré-lajes, são elementos estruturais suscetíveis à fadiga, devido às ações a que são submetidas. As pré-lajes, pelo fato de serem resultantes da junção de dois concretos diferentes, torna-se ainda mais suscetível à fadiga. Este trabalho apresenta estudos, ensaios e análise de resultados a respeito do comportamento à fadiga das lajes de pontes de concreto, sejam as maciças ou as executadas com pré-laje, armadas com barras ou telas soldadas. Foram realizados ensaios de fadiga de barra ao ar CA50 f10 mm isoladas e em telas para a construção da Curva de Wöhler nas condições brasileiras. Além disso, foram ensaiadas 23 lajes de concreto, sendo 6 lajes maciças e 17 executadas com prélajes, montadas com diversas configurações de armadura, submetidas a ensaios estáticos e dinâmicos. As configurações de armaduras adotadas nas lajes da pesquisa foram baseadas nas utilizadas com freqüência neste tipo de elemento das pontes, escala ½. Um dos principais motivos que levaram ao desenvolvimento desta pesquisa de caráter experimental foi a escassez de dados sobre o comportamento de lajes armadas com barras ou telas soldadas de fabricação brasileira, submetidas a ações cíclicas. Outro motivo foi a carência de estudos a respeito da iteração prélaje x capa. Foi verificado que não houve ruptura nessa região da estrutura devido aos carregamentos cíclicos aplicados no meio do vão. Ficou evidenciado também que as soldas das telas afetam sua resistência à fadiga. / Concrete bridge slabs, massive or pre-slabs, are structural elements susceptible to fatigue, due to loading applied to them. Pre-slabs, result of two different concretes, become even more susceptible to fatigue. This research presents the studies, tests and analysis of the results about the behavior of concrete bridge massive slabs or pre-slabs reinforced with steel bars and welded steel meshes due to fatigue loading. Axial testing in air of CA50 f10 mm in continuous bars and steel meshes were made in order to build the Wöhler Curve to the Brazilian conditions. Besides that, tests were made in 23 concrete slabs, 6 massive slabs and 17 preslabs, with several reinforcements arrangements, submitted to static and dynamic loading. The reinforcement configurations adopted in the slabs were based on the commonly used in these bridge elements in scale ½. One of main reasons that lead this experimental research development was the scarcity of data about the behavior of concrete slabs reinforced with rebars and welded mesh made in Brazil, submitted to cycle loading. Another reason was the lack of studies about the iteration between pre-slab and concrete cover. It was verified that no rupture was found in this region of the structure due to midspan cycle loading. The welding process caused loss of fatigue resistance.

Neste trabalho foram determinadas as condições para a soldagem de chapas grossas de aço carbono ASTM A36 com aço baixo-liga temperado e revenido ASTM A514 Grau Q empregando-se o processo arame tubular. Para tanto foram soldadas diversas peças de testes com o intuito de se avaliar as condições mais adequadas de preparação e soldagem de juntas dissimilares destes materiais. A preparação foi realizada por meio de corte térmico. A temperatura de preaquecimento foi determinada através de modelos matemáticos, pelas recomendações das normas AWS D1.1 e DIN EN 1011-2 sendo posteriormente avaliada por intermédio do teste de soldabilidade tipo CTS Controlled Thermal Severity. Os parâmetros de soldagem foram determinados a partir da qualificação de um procedimento de soldagem, conforme a norma AWS D1.1. Foram avaliadas as consequências do emprego do tratamento térmico de alívio de tensões após soldagem (TTAT), pelos testes de dureza Vickers e impacto Charpy. A caracterização microestrutural foi realizada por meio de microscopia óptica e microscopia eletrônica de varredura. A caracterização das superfícies oxicortadas evidenciou os efeitos da descarbonetação e também da carbonetação. A temperatura de pré-aquecimento de 160°C determinada por meio da metodologia recomendada pelas normas AWS D1.1 e DIN EN 1011-2 mostrou-se satisfatória nos testes de soldabilidade. Foi possível a qualificação do procedimento de soldagem (EPS) com requisitos de impacto na condição \"como soldado\", porém na condição \"após TTAT\", os baixos valores de tenacidade obtidos no metal de solda, inferiores a 27J, não permitiram a qualificação de uma EPS com requisitos de impacto. Foi observada a ausência de trincas intergranulares tanto na zona afetada pelo calor quanto no metal de base ASTM A514, porém foi revelada a presença de microfases frágeis no metal de solda na condição \"como soldado\", especificamente na região da raiz, intensificadas pelo efeito da diluição. O aumento do teor de carbono na raiz, a presença de microfases frágeis, a grande fração de grãos colunares e de ferrita proeutetóide combinados com a baixa fração de ferrita acicular no metal de solda contribuíram para os baixos valores de tenacidade encontrados na condição \"como soldado\". Após o TTAT observou-se uma queda acentuada da tenacidade, inferior a 27J, do metal de solda devido à fragilização provocada pela precipitação e coalescimento de carbonetos de ferro. / In this work it was determined the conditions for welding thick plate of ASTM A36 carbon steel with quenched and tempered low-alloy steel ASTM A514 Grade Q employing the Flux Cored Arc Welding (FCAW) process. For that several coupons of tests were welded in order to evaluate the most appropriate conditions for preparation and welding of these dissimilar materials. The preparation was carried out by means of thermal cutting. The preheat temperature was determined by mathematical models, the recommendations of standards AWS D1.1 and DIN EN 1011-2 being further evaluated using the CTS type weldability test - Controlled Thermal Severity. The welding parameters were determined by qualifying a welding procedure (WPS), according to AWS D1.1. The effects of post weld heat treatment (PWHT) were evaluated by Vickers hardness tests and Charpy. Microstructural characterization was performed by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The characterization of oxi-fuel cut surfaces showed the effects of decarburization and also carburization. The preheating temperature of 160 °C determined by calculation and the methodology recommended by the standards was satisfactory in weldability tests. It was possible qualification of welding procedure (WPS) with impact requirements in the condition \"as welded\" but the condition \"after PWHT\" low toughness values obtained in the weld metal, less than 27J, did not allow to qualify a WPS with toughness requirements. The absence of intergranular cracking was observed in both the heat affected zone as the base metal ASTM A514, but the presence of fragile microphase in the weld metal was revealed in the weld metal in the condition \"as welded\" specifically in the root region, intensified by the effect of dilution. The carbon increase at root, the presence of fragile microphase, the large fraction of columnar grains and proeutectoid ferrite combined with the low fraction of acicular ferrite in the weld metal contributed to the low toughness values found in the condition \"as welded \". After PWHT there was a sharp drop in toughness, less than 27J, in the weld metal due to embrittlement caused by precipitation and coarsening of iron carbides.