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At least 235 records · Page 13
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1989

Fracture mechanics applied to elevated temperature crack growth

Twenty-six isothermal crack growth tests were performed on Hastelloy-X tubular specimens at a variety of temperatures and strain ranges. Conditions were selected to include nominally elastic and nominally plastic conditions. A number of parameters including the stress intensity factor, strain intensity factor, J-integral, Crack Opening Displacement, and Tompkins model were examined for their ability to correlate the data. Test conditions were selected such that growth rates at a single value of the parameter were obtained at radially different crack lengths, thus exploring the geometry independence of the correlating parameter. None of the parameters were fully satisfactory. However, COD calculated from J-integral appeared to be the most successful.

Jordan, E. H.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Probabilistic model for fracture mechanics service life analysis

The service longevity of complex propulsion systems, such as the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME), can be at risk from several competing failure modes. Conventional life assessment practice focuses upon the most severely life-limited feature of a given component, even though there may be other, less severe, potential failure locations. Primary, secondary, tertiary failure modes, as well as their associated probabilities, must also be considered. Futhermore, these probabilities are functions of accumulated service time. Thus a component may not always succumb to the most severe, or even the most probable failure mode. Propulsion system longevity must be assessed by considering simultaneously the actions of, and interactions among, life-limiting influences. These include, but are not limited to, high frequency fatigue (HFF), low cycle fatigue (LCF), and subsequent crack propagation, thermal and acoustic loadings, and the influence of less-than-ideal nondestructive evaluation (NDE). An outline is provided for a probabilistic model for service life analysis, and the progress towards its implementation is reported.

Annis, Charles↗
NASA NTRS1990

A study of fracture mechanisms in ATD roller bearing

The purpose was to investigate how microstructures, especially anisotropy, affects internal stresses and the overall mechanical response of bearings. Samples with the stress axis along the aligned carbide direction possessed high modulus values compared to those with their axis perpendicular to the carbide stringers. The difference in the modulus was found to be more than a factor of two. A series of experiments was conducted on rolled samples to further investigate this effect; the two sets of results were consistent with each other. The degree of anisotropy of the microstructure in terms of the carbide and matrix orientations was determined using x-ray diffraction. The stress state determination was conducted using neutron diffraction. It was found that there was little variation in the distribution of the internal stresses amongst different samples, indicating that small changes in the processing and geometrical conditions did not result in significant variations in the internal stress. A nominal tensile hoop stress of 39 ksi was obtained for the inner raceway. Furthermore, during the course of the investigation, it was apparent that there was a need to determine the stress state induced by the shrink fitting process. Therefore, a series of experiments was conducted using strain gages to identify the stress distribution in a shrink fitting process in three different types of geometries. Correlations were obtained to estimate the highest stress values in the outer and inner groove geometry. A finite element program based on the ANSYS system was developed to compute the stress distribution in the inner raceway geometry. This analysis indicates that the highest tensile stress in the system occurs at the ID of the ring with a stress value of over 5 times that of the applied radial stress. Results from all these facets were correlated with one another. It appears that the material does not fail as a result of any one single factor, but results from a combination of the various factors investigated.

Zee, Ralph H.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Application of elastic and elastic-plastic fracture mechanics methods to surface flaws

Fuel tanks that are a part of the External Tank assembly for the Space Shuttle are made of relatively thin 2219-T87 aluminum plate. These tanks contain about 917 m of fusion weld seam, all of which is nondestructively inspected for flaws and all those found are repaired. The tanks are subsequently proof-tested to a pressure that is sufficiently severe to cause weld metal yielding in a few local regions of the weld seam. The work undertaken in the present project was to develop a capability to predict flaw growth from undetected surface flaws that are assumed to be located in the highly stressed regions. The technical challenge was to develop R-curve prediction capability for surface cracks in specimens that contain the flaws of unusual sizes and shapes deemed to be of interest. The test techniques developed and the elastic-plastic analysis concepts adopted are presented. The flaws of interest were quite small surface cracks that were narrow-deep ellipses that served to exacerbate the technical difficulties involved.

Mccabe, Donald E.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Dynamic fracture mechanics analysis for an edge delamination crack

A global/local analysis is applied to the problem of a panel with an edge delamination crack subject to an impulse loading to ascertain the dynamic J integral. The approach uses the spectral element method to obtain the global dynamic response and local resultants to obtain the J integral. The variation of J integral along the crack front is shown. The crack behavior is mixed mode (Mode 2 and Mode 3), but is dominated by the Mode 2 behavior.

Rizzi, Stephen A.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Fracture mechanics life analytical methods verification testing

Verification and validation of the basic information capabilities in NASCRAC has been completed. The basic information includes computation of K versus a, J versus a, and crack opening area versus a. These quantities represent building blocks which NASCRAC uses in its other computations such as fatigue crack life and tearing instability. Several methods were used to verify and validate the basic information capabilities. The simple configurations such as the compact tension specimen and a crack in a finite plate were verified and validated versus handbook solutions for simple loads. For general loads using weight functions, offline integration using standard FORTRAN routines was performed. For more complicated configurations such as corner cracks and semielliptical cracks, NASCRAC solutions were verified and validated versus published results and finite element analyses. A few minor problems were identified in the basic information capabilities of the simple configurations. In the more complicated configurations, significant differences between NASCRAC and reference solutions were observed because NASCRAC calculates its solutions as averaged values across the entire crack front whereas the reference solutions were computed for a single point.

Favenesi, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Thermal fracture mechanisms in ceramic thermal barrier coatings

Ceramic thermal barrier coatings represent an attractive method of increasing the high temperature limits for systems such as diesel engines, gas turbines and aircraft engines. However, the dissimilarities between ceramics and metal, as well as the severe temperature gradients applied in such systems, cause thermal stresses which can lead to cracking and ultimately spalling of the coating. This paper reviews the research which considers initiation of surface cracks, interfacial edge cracks and the effect of a transient thermal load on interface cracks. The results of controlled experiments together with analytical models are presented. The implications of these findings to the differences between diesel engines and gas turbines are discussed. The importance of such work for determining the proper design criteria for thermal barrier coatings is underlined.

Kokini, K.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Applications of symbolic computation in fracture mechanics

A FORTRAN program for calculating the stresses of n cracks embedded in an isotropic plate is presented. Formulas are given for calculating the stresses of one crack, two cracks, and n cracks in an isotropic plate. Then the program code that accomplishes this is provided.

Tan, Hui-Qian↗
NASA NTRS1995

Thermal fracture mechanisms in ceramic thermal barrier coatings

Ceramic thermal barrier coatings represent an attractive method of increasing the high temperature limits for systems such as diesel engines, gas turbines and aircraft engines. However, the dissimilarities between ceramics and metal, as well as the severe temperature gradients applied in such systems cause thermal stresses which can lead to cracking and ultimately spalling of the coating. This paper reviews the research which considers initiation of surface cracks, interfacial edge cracks and the effect of a transient thermal load on interface cracks. The results of controlled experiments together with analytical models are presented. The implications of these findings to the differences between diesel engines and gas turbines are discussed. The importance of such work for determining the proper design criteria for thermal barrier coatings is underlined.

Kokini, Klod↗
NASA NTRS1998

Small Crack Growth and Fatigue Life Predictions for High-Strength Aluminium Alloys: Experimental and Fracture Mechanics Analysis - Part 1

The small crack effect was investigated in two high-strength aluminium alloys: 7075-T6 bare and LC9cs clad alloy. Both experimental and analytical investigations were conducted to study crack initiation and growth of small cracks. In the experimental program, fatigue tests, small crack and large crack tests A,ere conducted under constant amplitude and Mini-TWIST spectrum loading conditions. A pronounced small crack effect was observed in both materials, especially for the negative stress ratios. For all loading conditions, most of the fatigue life of the SENT specimens was shown to be crack propagation from initial material defects or from the cladding layer. In the analysis program, three-dimensional finite element and A weight function methods were used to determine stress intensity factors and to develop SIF equations for surface and corner cracks at the notch in the SENT specimens. A plastisity-induced crack-closure model was used to correlate small and large crack data, and to make fatigue life predictions, Predicted crack-growth rates and fatigue lives agreed well with experiments. A total fatigue life prediction method for the aluminum alloys was developed and demonstrated using the crack-closure model.

Wu, X. R.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Fracture Mechanics Analysis of an Annular Crack in a Three-concentric-cylinder Composite Model

A boundary-value problem governing a three-phase concentric-cylinder model was analytically modeled to analyze annular interfacial crack problems with Love s strain functions in order to find the stress intensity factors (SIFs) and strain energy release rates (SERRs) at the tips of an interface crack in a nonhomogeneous medium. The complex form of a singular integral equation (SIE) of the second kind was formulated using Bessel s functions in the Fourier domain, and the SIF and total SERR were calculated using Jacoby polynomials. For the validity of the SIF equations to be established, the SIE of the three-concentric-cylinder model was reduced to the SIE for a two-concentric-cylinder model, and the results were compared with the previous results of Erdogan. A preliminary set of parametric studies was carried out to show the effect of interphase properties on the SERR. The method presented here provides insight about the effect of interphase properties on the crack driving force.

Kuguoglu, Latife H.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Fracture Mechanics Analysis of Stitched Stiffener-Skin Debonding

An analysis based on plate finite elements and the virtual crack closure technique has been implemented to study the effect of stitching on mode I and mode II strain energy release rates for debond configurations. The stitches were modeled as discrete nonlinear fastener elements with a compliance determined by experiment. The axial and shear behavior of the stitches was considered, however, the two compliances and failure loads were assumed to be independent. Both a double cantilever beam (mode I) and a mixed mode skin-stiffener debond configuration were studied. In the double cantilever beam configurations, G(sub I) began to decrease once the debond had grown beyond the first row of stitches and was reduced to zero for long debonds. In the mixed-mode skin-stiffener configurations, G(sub I) showed a similar behavior as in the double cantilever beam configurations, however, G(sub u), continued to increase with increasing debond length.

Glaessgen, E. H.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Probabilistic Fracture Mechanics Analysis of the Orbiter's LH2 Feedline Flowliner

Work performed by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) as part of an Independent Technical Assessment (ITA) for the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) is summarized. The ITA goal was to establish a flight rationale in light of a history of fatigue cracking due to flow induced vibrations in the feedline flowliners that supply liquid hydrogen to the space shuttle main engines. Prior deterministic analyses using worst-case assumptions predicted failure in a single flight. The current work formulated statistical models for dynamic loading and cryogenic fatigue crack growth properties, instead of using worst-case assumptions. Weight function solutions for bivariant stressing were developed to determine accurate crack "driving-forces". Monte Carlo simulations showed that low flowliner probabilities of failure (POF = 0.001 to 0.0001) are achievable, provided pre-flight inspections for cracks are performed with adequate probability of detection (POD)-specifically, 20/75 mils with 50%/99% POD. Measurements to confirm assumed POD curves are recommended. Since the computed POFs are very sensitive to the cyclic loads/stresses and the analysis of strain gage data revealed inconsistencies with the previous assumption of a single dominant vibrant mode, further work to reconcile this difference is recommended. It is possible that the unaccounted vibrational modes in the flight spectra could increase the computed POFs.

Bonacuse, Peter J.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Fracture Mechanics Testing of Titanium 6AL-4V in AF-M315E

The Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM) will demonstrate the performance of AF-M315E monopropellant on orbit. Flight certification requires a safe-life analysis of the titanium alloy fuel tank to ensure inherent processing flaws will not cause failure during the design life of the tank. Material property inputs for this analysis require testing to determine the stress intensity factor for environment-assisted cracking (KEAC) of Ti 6Al-4V in combination with the AF-M315E monopropellant. Testing of single-edge notched, or SE(B), specimens representing the bulk tank membrane and weld material were performed in accordance with ASTM E1681. Specimens with fatigue pre-cracks were loaded into test fixtures so that the crack tips were exposed to AF-M315E at 50 C for a duration of 1,000 hours. Specimens that did not fail during exposure were opened to inspect the crack surfaces for evidence of crack growth. The threshold stress intensity value, KEAC, is the highest applied stress intensity that produced neither a failure of the specimen during the exposure nor showed evidence of crack growth. The threshold stress intensity factor for environment-assisted cracking of the Ti 6Al-4V forged tank material was found to be at least 22 ksi√in and at least 31 ksi√in for the weld material when exposed to AF-M315E monopropellant.

AF-M315E↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Fracture Mechanics Testing of Titanium 6AL-4V in LMP-103S Propellant

Propellant tank safe-life analysis is a spacecraft propulsion subsystem Launch Range processing requirement. The material property inputs for the safe-life analysis include the stress intensity factor for environment-assisted cracking (KEAC). The KEAC for titanium alloy Ti 6Al-4V in LMP-103S propellant was determined experimentally using an innovative test method following ASTM E1681, Standard Test Method for Determining Threshold Stress Intensity Factor for Environment-Assisted Cracking of Metallic Materials. This effort was a collaboration between NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and NASA Kennedy Space Center to expose the test specimens in the propellant, while loaded in the test fixtures, for 1000- hour (42 days) at 50°C. Two test rounds have been completed to date; 1) testing mechanically loaded specimens but without propellant and 2) testing mechanically loaded specimens wetted with LMP-103S propellant. The dry test was to evaluate the crack growth without exposure to the LMP-103S propellant, and further assess the un-wetted stress intensity factor for the full 1000-hour duration. The second round of testing included the propellant soak for the requisite 1000- hour at 50°C. Current results show that the threshold intensity factor for environment-assisted cracking (exposed to LMP103S) is 22.5 ksi√in for the bulk material and 36. 2 ksi√in for the weld material. A generic ‘candidate’ tank geometry and material thickness is developed for a damage tolerance of known surface cracks below the nondestructive inspection technique detection limit. Evaluations with and without the use of a threshold intensity factor for environment-assisted cracking is performed for the required 4x propellant tank service life using the software tool NASGRO. SP2024_00239

Green propulsion↗