EG5906/11

UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN

SESSION 2010-2011

Degree Examination in EG5096 FATIGUE AND FRACTURE MECHANICS

XX January 2011

Note: (i)
(ii)

Time

Candidates ARE permitted to use an approved calculator

Data sheets are attached to the paper

Candidates should attempt ALL questions.

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING

(i)

You must not have in your possession any material other than that expressly permitted in the rules
appropriate to this examination. Where this is permitted, such material must not be amended,
annotated or modified in any way.

(ii)

You must not have in your possession any material that could be determined as giving you an
advantage in the examination.

(iii) You must not attempt to communicate with any candidate during the exam, either orally or by
passing written material, or by showing material to another candidate, nor must you attempt to view
another candidates work.
Failure to comply with the above will be regarded as cheating and may lead to disciplinary action as
indicated in the Academic Quality Handbook
(www.abdn.ac.uk/registry/quality/appendix7x1.pdf) Section 4.14 and 5.

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1.
(a) Discuss how the Soderberg relationship may be used in the fatigue design of components and
sketch the relationship in its normal form for tensile loading.
[10 marks]
(b) The drive shaft to a pump is subjected to a steady bending moment of 1500Nm and,
simultaneously, to an alternating bending moment of 1000Nm in the same section. If the yield
stress of the shaft material is 210MPa and the fatigue limit in reversed bending is 170MPa,
what shaft diameter will be required for infinite life?
You may assume that a factor of safety of 2.5 applies.
[15 marks]
2.
(a) Discuss the concept of Crack Tip Opening Displacement as a fracture characterising
parameter indicating when it would be used.
[10 marks]
(b) A pressure vessel is to be protected from excessive pressure by a bursting disc comprising a
flat, circular plate clamped at its edges with a sharp notch of depth a, machined across the
diameter in the unpressurised side.
The plate is 80 mm in diameter and 4 mm thick and is made from high strength steel with the
following properties:
Yield stress, y = 1500 MN/m2; Youngs modulus, E = 200 GN/m2; Poissons ratio, 0.33;
1/ 2
critical CTOD, c = 4m. For the disc it can be assumed that K c E y c .
The maximum stress acting perpendicular to the notch can be determined from:

3 pc r 2
1
8h 2

where pc is the applied pressure, h, is the disc thickness and r, the disc radius and around the
1/ 2
notch, K 1.12 a .
What depth of notch is required for a bursting pressure of 20 MN/m2?
[10 marks]
Due to the potentially corrosive nature of the pressurised fluid, there has been a suggestion
that a high toughness stainless steel should be used for the bursting disc. What comments
would you have on this suggestion?
[5 marks]

Please turn over

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3.
(a) In the assessment of fatigue cracking, discuss why the data obtained from S-N curves is of
limited value and why knowledge of the Paris Law is important in determining fatigue life.
[10 marks]
(b) A cylindrical pressure vessel of wall thickness, B, has a longitudinal crack of length, L, and
depth, a , along its internal surface. A net internal pressure, p, cycling between values po/2
and po may affect crack growth.
The evaluation assumes that L>> a , such that the relatively stationary crack ends do not
retard crack growth, significantly, at the centre of the crack.
The initial crack depth a a o = 5mm, B = 25mm and the vessel internal radius R = 500mm.
(i)

Determine the maximum value of po for which the crack remains stationary if the
threshold stress intensity range for the vessel steel is K o 4 MN/m3/2.
[5 marks]

(ii)

Under a substantially higher load range the crack is assumed to propagate according
to:
da
CK m
dN

Determine the maximum number of pressure cycles before the crack penetrates the
vessel wall if, for the vessel steel:
m = 3, C = 10-12 MN-3m11/2c-1 and KIC = 40MN/m3/2
The operating value of po is 10MN/m2 and, for the crack, you can assume
1/ 2
K I 1.4 a .
[10 marks]
4.
(a) Discuss the principle of ultrasonic inspection, highlighting the types of defect
technique can locate.

that the
[10 marks]

(b) What limitations are inherent in using the ultrasonic inspection technique?
[6 marks]
(c) An Asset Deterioration Risk Matrix can be used to identify the likely impact of deterioration
of components in a production system. Explain the role of non-destructive testing in the
successful operation of this concept of risk analysis.
[9 marks]

END OF EXAMINATION PAPER

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EG5096 - HANDOUT
Useful Equations
K Y a

1/ 2

a D 1 m

da
m
C K
dN

K f 1
Kt 1

Useful stress analysis formulae

For a beam of uniform circular cross section:
I

d 4
64

For a thin-walled pressure vessel:

pr
t

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