SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Creep-fatigue”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 55 records · Page 3

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

DOE OSTI2026

Thermomechanical analysis and modeling of a high-temperature light trapping planar cavity solar receiver

The development of durable particle-based high-temperature solar receivers is critical for advancing concentrating solar-thermal (CST) technologies to enable high-efficiency power generation and industrial process heat. Here, this study presents a computational framework to evaluate the thermomechanical performance of a proposed enclosed light-trapping planar cavity receiver designed for particle-based thermal energy systems. The receiver incorporates absorptive cavities and fluidized particle-bed channels to enhance heat capture and reduce thermal losses. Finite element analysis (FEA) is employed to assess stress, strain, and creep-fatigue behavior under concentrated solar flux using realistic thermal boundary conditions derived from coupled system models and experimental assembly parameters. The analysis investigates the influence of particle-to-wall heat transfer coefficients (HTC) ranging from 800 to 1800 W/m 2 .K on the thermomechanical response of six candidate high-temperature alloys: Alloy 740H, Alloy 282, Alloy 617, 316H, Alloy 230, and 800H. Results show that increasing HTC reduces thermal gradients, leading to lower stresses and strains and extended minimum predicted creep life. While all materials satisfy fatigue life requirements under the investigated conditions, significant differences in creep resistance are observed. Alloy 740H consistently exhibits the longest minimum predicted creep life and the most favorable durability margins, followed by Alloy 282, with the remaining materials showing reduced creep resistance under identical loading. The reported creep lives are conservative lower-bound estimates intended for comparative material evaluation. This framework highlights the critical roles of material selection and geometry optimization in improving mechanical durability and reliability of solar-thermal receivers, forming a foundation for future experimental validation and design optimization.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2025

Thermomechanical Modeling and Analysis of a High-Temperature Light Trapping Planar Cavity Receiver

Solar energy harnessed through concentrating solar power (CSP) systems offers a promising path to sustainable energy production, with the efficiency and longevity of these systems relying on key components like solar receivers. This study analyzes the thermomechanical behavior of an innovative enclosed light-trapping solar receiver optimized for particle heating applications. The receiver utilizes sheet metal alloys to form enclosed cavities that reflect and trap incoming solar flux, as well as enclosed channels that contain fluidized particle beds absorbing solar heat. Finite element analysis (FEA) is applied to predict the receiver's thermomechanical performance under extreme solar flux conditions. Temperature distributions from a thermal model simulating a multi-panel assembly at steady state are input into the FEA thermomechanical model for stress analysis. A key aspect of the analysis focuses on evaluating creep-fatigue damage, with a design target of achieving a 30- year service life. Various stress relief techniques are also proposed to extend the receiver's service life. The results highlight the significant impact of the particle-to-wall heat transfer coefficients (HTCs), ranging from 800 W/m2*K to 1400 W/m2*K. The 800 W/m2*K case shows a maximum von Mises stress of 164 MPa, while the 1400 W/m2*K case reduces it to 150 MPa. The creep life increases from 4,000 hrs in the 800 W/m2*K case to over 100,000 hrs in the 1400 W/m2*K case with Inconel 740H used, indicating that higher HTCs reduce stress and extend lifespan. This research advances the design of high-efficiency, low-stress solar receivers for particle-based thermal energy storage in CSP and industrial heating applications.

concentrating solar power↗

DOE OSTI2025

Combined Creep and Fatigue Modeling

Simultaneous consideration of creep and fatigue is of paramount importance to accurately predict component life in many industrial applications. For example, growing penetration of renewable energy onto the grid is forcing many power plants to transition from base-load power generation to more complex operation modes, characterized by a combination of base-load generation and frequent start-up and shut-down cycles. The frequent start-stop of power plants is causing a significant toll in the component life due to fatigue. As such, creep alone is not adequate anymore to predict the component life. Most existing life prediction models consider creep or fatigue independently while neglect their interactions. In this presentation, we talk about some recent efforts at NETL to develop a unified modeling framework where both creep and fatigue can be considered. The creep-fatigue interaction mechanism is studied. High-throughput simulations are performed under various hold stress and hold time, and analytical expressions are fitted for the crack growth rates under creep and/or fatigue conditions demonstrating some applications of this newly developed modeling capability.

advanced alloy development↗

DOE OSTI2025

A simplified approach for creep damage and remaining life calculation for materials surveillance in advanced reactors

High temperature reactor materials will experience a combination of mechanical degradation caused by creep and fatigue and environmental degradation caused by neutron irradiation and, in some cases, exposure to corrosive coolants. A materials surveillance program is one option for ensuring the safe, reliable operation of key reactor components under these conditions. Such a program would monitor the degradation in key material properties over time, using this data to predict how changes in the material properties affect components performance. This could then be used to make plant operational decisions and support eventual plant license extensions. Past work de-scribes such a material surveillance program based on passively actuated mechanical test articles that impose creep-fatigue type loading on test materials driven only by changes in temperature, for example those experienced by components under standard operating cycles. This report focuses on two aspects of the proposed material surveillance program: how to design the test articles to mimic the mechanical response of the corresponding component and how to use ex-situ test data to deter-mine the amount of damaged experienced by the test article (and hence the corresponding compo-nent) in service. Specifically, this report derives and validated simplified methods for both tasks, replacing earlier, more complicated approaches based on simulating the test article response and finding the best specimen design or current damage via complex numerical optimization. The sim-plified methods for each task developed here can be implemented in spreadsheet software and are simple enough for practical use in future operating plants. This report derives the methods (one for sizing and two options for damage inference), verifies the simplified approaches versus more so-phisticated methods, and compares the results of applying the simplified methods to previous re-sults using the complex numerical optimization approach. The report also provides a worked sam-pled problem applying the simplified techniques to a realistic high temperature reactor component.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

DOE OSTI2026

Prototype Modeling for a Light-Trapping Planar-Cavity Enclosed Particle Solar Receiver

Concentrating solar thermal (CST) systems present a promising avenue for affordable and reliable energy production. Solar receivers are key components that determine the efficiency and longevity of these systems. Particle-based solar receivers have emerged as a compelling alternative to traditional technologies, offering several advantages that address limitations in current CST systems. This is especially true as next-generation CST technologies target applications including electricity generation, thermochemical processes, and industrial process heat, many of which necessitate higher operating temperatures than current commercial molten salt systems. Molten-salt thermal energy storage (TES) systems, commonly used in CSP, face challenges related to freezing and corrosion. Particle-based TES systems, in contrast, do not experience these issues, as particles are stable at high temperatures, exceeding 1000 degrees Celsius. This capability allows for a wider range of applications, including those requiring higher temperatures for industrial processes and efficient electricity generation. A novel innovation in particle-based solar receiver technology is the light-trapping planar cavity receiver (LTPCR) configuration developed by NREL. The LTPCR design consists of small cavity-like structures using opaque planar surfaces, enabling efficient capture and absorption of solar energy. A high incident flux concentration at the cavity aperture is absorbed on the receiver walls, and subsequently transferred to particles on the inside of cavities. The particles flow through the system, forming a fluidized bed inside of the receiver panels, effectively capturing the absorbed solar heat. Air is used as a fluidizing medium in this process to enhance particle heat transfer and mixing. The effectiveness of this design lies in its ability to manage solar flux conditions and ensure high solar-to-thermal receiver efficiency. A 100-kW prototype is currently being tested at the King Saud University in Saudi Arabia to assess the receiver performance. A range of modeling analyses for the optical, thermal, and mechanical effects were conducted to assess the performance of the receiver under on-sun conditions. The solar flux resulting from the KSU heliostat field was modeled using NREL SolTrace software and produced up to 600 kW/m2 at the receiver aperture. The solar flux absorbed on the receiver walls was then used within a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model to predict wall temperature distributions along with radiation and convection loss. A two-phase CFD model was developed for the fluidized bed of silica sand inside the receiver panels to predict local wall-to-particle heat transfer coefficients, particle temperature distributions, and outlet temperature of the particles. We have also conducted analyses to understand the thermomechanical behavior of these innovative enclosed light-trapping solar receivers optimized for particle heating. We used finite element analysis (FEA) to predict the receiver's performance using temperature distributions obtained from CFD and based on the resulting stress profiles, evaluated creep-fatigue damage with a goal of achieving a 30-year service life. Analysis showed a significant impact of the particle-to-wall heat transfer coefficients (HTCs) on receiver performance, with higher HTCs resulting in reduced stress and increased lifespan. For instance, when using Inconel 740H, increasing the HTC from 800 W/m2 K to 1400 W/m2 K increased the creep life from 4,000 hours to over 100,000 hours. This highlights the importance of understanding and optimizing heat transfer in the design of high-efficiency receivers.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

NASA NTRS1971

The role of creep in high temperature low cycle fatigue.

The significance of the role that creep can play in governing high-temperature, low-cycle fatigue resistance is investigated by conducting strain cycling tests on two high-temperature stainless steel alloys and making concurrent measurements of stress, temperature, and strain at various frequencies. The results are then analyzed in terms of damage imposed by creep and fatigue components. It is shown that creep can play an important and sometimes dominant role in low cycle fatigue at high temperatures. The results of the study include the findings that: (1) the simple life-fraction theory described is adequate for calculating creep damage when the cyclic creep rupture curve is used as a basis for analysis; (2) a method of universal slopes originally developed for room temperature use is sufficiently accurate at high temperature to be used to calculate pure fatigue damage; and (3) a linear creep-fatigue damage rule can explain the transitions observed from one failure mode to another.

Manson, S. S.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Cyclic structural analyses of air-cooled gas turbine blades and vanes

The creep-fatigue behavior of a fully impingement-cooled blade for four cyclic cases was analyzed by using the Elas 55, finite-element, nonlinear structural computer program. Expected cyclic lives were calculated by using the method of Strainrange Partitioning for reversed inelastic strains and time fractions for ratcheted tensile creep strains. Strainrange Partitioning was also applied to previous results from a one-dimensional cyclic analysis of a film-impingement-cooled vane. The analyses indicated that Strainrange Partitioning is more applicable to a constrained airfoil such as the film-impingement-cooled vane than to the relatively unconstrained fully impingement-cooled airfoil.

Kaufman, A.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Analytical study of thermal barrier coated first-stage blades in an F100 engine

Heat transfer and stress analyses were performed on two sections of a thermal barrier coated (TBC) F100 1st-stage turbine blade. Results of the analyses indicate that the TBC on the leading edges of both sections experience the highest elastic strain ranges and these occur during transient engine operation. Further study is recommended to determine the effects of plastic deformation (creep) and creep-fatigue interaction on coating life.

Andress, D. E.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Treatment of low strains and long hold times in high temperature metal fatigue by strainrange partitioning

A procedure for treating creep-fatigue for low strainranges and long hold times is outlined. A semi-experimental approach, wherein several cycles of the imposed loading is actually applied to a specimen in order to determine the stable hysteresis loop, can be very useful in the analysis. Because such tests require only a small fraction of the total failure time, they are not inherently prohibitive if experimental equipment is available. The need for accurate constitutive equations is bypassed because the material itself acts to translate the imposed loading into the responsive hysteresis loops. When strainrange partitioning has been applied in such cases very good results have been obtained.

Manson, S. S.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Fractographic evaluation of creep effects on strain-controlled fatigue-cracking of AISI 304LC and 316 stainless steel

Analysis of high temperature low cycle fatigue of AISI 304LC and 316 stainless steels by the method of strainrange partitioning results in four separate strainrange versus life relationships, depending upon the way in which creep-strain and plastic strain are combined within a cycle. Fractography is used in this investigation of the creep-fatigue interaction associated with these cycles. The PP and PC-cycle fractures were transgranular. The PC-cycle resulted in fewer cycles of initiation and shorter total cyclic life for the same applied inelastic strainrange. The CC-cycle had mixed transgranular and intergranular fracture, fewer cycles of initiation and shorter cycle life than PP or PC. The CP-cycle had fully integranular cracking, and failed in fewer cycles than were required for cracks to initate for PP,PC, and CC.

Oldrieve, R. E.↗

NASA NTRS1978

The development and application of strainrange partitioning as a tool in the treatment of high temperature metal fatigue

The effects of frequency, stress and strain hold periods, stress and strain ramping, creep-fatigue interspersion, and thermomechanical cycling were studied. Of special interest was the establishment of a set of universalized life relations which were normalized by the ductility of the material. These relations together with a set of rules that were devised for treating multiaxiality by the method, were, for example, useful in predicting torsion behavior, and in particular in establishing a new relationship between torsion and tension that had previously not been considered. They also were useful in the development of a framework for treatment of environmental effects.

Manson, S. S.↗

NASA NTRS1979

The strainrange partitioning behavior of an advanced gas turbine disk alloy, AF2-1DA

The low-cycle, creep-fatigue characteristics of the advanced gas turbine disk alloy, AF2-1DA have been determined at 1400 F and are presented in terms of the method of strainrange partitioning (SRP). The mean stresses which develop in the PC and CP type SRP cycles at the lowest inelastic strainrange were observed to influence the cyclic lives to a greater extent than the creep effects and hence interfered with a conventional interpretation of the results by SRP. A procedure is proposed for dealing with the mean stress effects on life which is compatible with SRP.

Halford, G. R.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Technical evaluation report of the Specialists Meeting on Characterization of Low Cycle High Temperature Fatigue by the Strainrange Partitioning Method

The ability of the Strainrange Partitioning Method SRP was evaluated to correlate the creep-fatigue behavior of gas turbine materials and to predict the creep fatigue life of laboratory specimens subjected to complex cycling conditions. A reference body of high temperature creep fatigue data which can be used in the evaluation of other SRP and low cycle high temperature fatigue predictive techniques was provided.

Drapier, J. M.↗

NASA NTRS1979

The strainrange partitioning behavior of an advanced gas turbine disk alloy, AF2-1DA

The low-cycle, creep-fatigue characteristics of the advanced gas turbine disk alloy, AF2-1DA have been determined at 1400 F and are presented in terms of the method of strainrange partitioning (SRP). The mean stresses which develop in the PC (tensile Plasticity reversed by compressive Creep) and CP (tensile Creep reversed by compressive Plasticity) type SRP cycles at the lowest inelastic strainrange were observed to influence the cyclic lives to a greater extent than the creep effects and hence interfered with a conventional interpretation of the results by SRP. A procedure is proposed for dealing with the mean stress effects on life which is compatible with SRP.

Halford, G. R.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Effects of fine porosity on the fatigue behavior of a powder metallurgy superalloy

Hot-isostatically-pressed powder-metallurgy Astroloy was obtained which contained 1.4 percent porosity at the grain boundaries produced by argon entering the powder container during pressing. This material was tested at 650 C in fatigue, creep-fatigue, tension, and stress-rupture and the results compared with data on sound Astroloy. They influenced fatigue crack initiation and produced a more intergranular mode of propagation but fatigue life was not drastically reduced. Fatigue behavior of the porous material showed typical correlation with tensile behavior. The plastic strain range-life relation was reduced proportionately with the reduction in tensile ductility, but the elastic strain range-life relation was changed little.

Miner, R. V.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Life prediction and constitutive models for anisotropic materials

The intent of this program is to develop a basic understanding of cyclic creep-fatigue deformation mechanisms and damage accumulation, a capability for reliable life prediction, and the ability to model the constitutive behavior of anisotropic single crystal (SC) and directionally solidified or recrystallized (DSR) comprise the program, and the work breakdown for each option reflects a distinct concern for two classes of anisotropic materials, SC and DSR materials, at temperatures encountered in the primary gas path (airfoil temperatures), and at temperatures typical of the blade root attachment and shank area. Work directed toward the higher temperature area of concern in the primary gas path includes effects of coatings on the behavior and properties of the materials of interest. The blade root attachment work areas will address the effects of stress concentrations associated with attachment features.

Bill, R. C.↗

DOE OSTI2025

Development of Surveillance Test Articles for Materials Degradation Management in MSR Environments

Materials in molten salt reactors (MSR) undergo accelerated degradation from corrosion, irradiation, and cyclic loads at elevated temperatures. Establishing a materials surveillance program to enable the assessment of material deterioration is critical to assure structural integrity of MSRs components. This presentation summarizes recent efforts towards the development of surveillance test articles for collecting various damages for monitoring materials degradation. Surveillance test articles with reduced dimensions were designed to capture creep-fatigue damage from cyclic loading at elevated temperatures. The strain evolution of test articles during thermal cycling was analyzed both numerically and experimentally. Out-of-reactor thermal cycling demonstrated successful capture of strain range for materials assessment. Moreover, test articles were subject to both mechanical loads and molten salt exposure, and the damage due to stress and corrosion was investigated. Additionally, damage inference models were developed to predict the remaining life of materials based on the accumulated damage in surveillance test articles.

36 - MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2025

srlife : a software tool for estimating the life of high temperature concentrating solar receivers. Part I – metallic receivers

Here, this paper introduces srlife, a tool for estimating the structural service life of concentrating solar power (CSP) receivers operating at high temperatures. Supporting both metallic and ceramic receiver designs, srlife is available as open-source software at https://github.com/applied-material-modeling/srlife and can be installed via the PyPi package manager (https://pypi.org). Given basic receiver geometry and incident heat flux, the tool performs thermohydraulic and structural analysis and estimates the life of a receiver. Designed for easy integration into a software stack, including solar field and levelized cost analysis, the tool can be utilized for optimizing receiver designs to meet service life and economic targets. This paper is Part I in a two-part series. Part I discusses the analysis process used to estimate the life of metallic receivers, along with a description of the required input data. Additionally, several heuristics applied within srlife can reduce analysis time significantly while maintaining accurate life estimations for metallic receivers when compared to full analyses. Several examples demonstrating the utility of srlife in receiver design are also discussed. Part II focuses on the life estimation of ceramic receivers, using time-dependent reliability analysis and various ceramic failure models implemented in srlife.

Creep-fatigue analysis↗