Fracture Mechanics
Combining fracture mechanics theory and simulation with measurement allows accurate prediction of crack growth in critical components.
Applying fracture mechanics methods from relevant standards/codes and finite element analysis (FEA) with correlated test data enables critical crack lengths and crack growth rates to be predicted for equipment monitoring and service life extension.
Critical Crack Length
Accurate determination of critical crack lengths is essential for preventing rapid crack growth and failure. We utilise crack assessment methodologies from various standards/codes and fracture mechanics based finite element analysis (FEA) to evaluate crack tip stresses and stress intensity factors/strain energy release rates for comparison with material fracture toughness and critical crack length calculation.
Our fracture mechanics based critical crack length assessment capabilities include:
- Standard/code based critical crack length determination for longitudinal and circumferential semi-elliptical surface, elliptical embedded and through cracks.
- Finite element analysis (FEA) based stress intensity factor K (linear elastic material) and J-integral (nonlinear elastic-plastic material) calculations for single and multiple cracks considering opening (mode I), shearing (mode II) and tearing (mode III) fracture modes.
- Fracture toughness values derived from Charpy testing (or similar) for critical stress intensity factor/J-integral value calculation.
- Environmental effects including stress corrosion cracking (SCC).
Crack Growth Rate
Correlating historical crack growth data with fracture mechanics theory enables crack growth rates to be predicted. We have expertise in applying crack growth rate laws from various standards/codes to measured data to determine crack growth law parameters for subsequent finite element analysis (FEA) based predictive simulations, allowing crack growth paths to be determined and critical crack lengths to be calculated.
Our crack growth predictive capabilities include:
- Paris’ law based crack growth modelling using measured crack length-time data.
- Standard/code based crack growth rate prediction, finite element analysis (FEA) based crack growth path determination and remaining (fatigue) life calculation (based on critical stress intensity factors/J-integral values).
Advanced Simulation
Leading edge engineering analysis accurately visualises and quantifies problems leading to the development of optimised solutions.
Vibration & Fatigue Analysis
Correlating measurement with virtual testing allows vibration issues to be identified and fatigue life to be determined.
Root Cause Failure Analysis
Root cause analysis of failures in equipment allows solutions to be developed that mitigate future issues.