(Current Advances ia Mechanical Design & Production Fifth Cairo University MDF Coaterence, Cairu, Dee. 24-541991 An experimental investigation into fatigue crack growth in stiffened panels SA. Nagu MLA. Found®, 31Abdel Ruouf und H * Asa. Prof, Dept. of Mech. Eng., Helwan Univ,, Egypt © ass, Prof, Dept. of Mech. Eng, Al-Azhor Univ., Egypt * Pref and Ass. Lecture, Bg. Mal. Dept, Zagarig Univ., Exyoe 1, Sallam © Abstract In the present work the wolded stiffeners technique as a means of fatigue crac arrest technique is experimentally investigated, The fatigue crack growth (FCG) rate and stress intensity factur (SIF) range are determined for stiffened mild steel specimens. The erack Gp is located with respect to the stiffener in positiun bofere, undor and passing the stiffener, The use of the stiffener has shown t arrest completely the BCG under ihe sume applied load causing crack growth in unstiffened sputimen. Howover, the ineroase of the appiied iead! has shown ta cause a FCG but ata rate lower than the rate of FCG in unsuftened panels, The position of the crack tip relative (o the stiffener width has shown to highiy influence the FCG and SIF range and minimum values are attained when the crack tip reaches the end of the stiffener Keywords Fracture mechanies; fatigue eruck growth; fatigue erack arrester; stifened panel ° L INTRODUCTION Ja the last few decades eatastraphic fatigue fractures in engineering applications, (e.g. storage tanks, pipe lines, aircrafts, ships and steel bridges) lead to new design philosophies as safe-life ond fail safe. In the first one the service life of the component is estimated so as the component js removed or replaced before this prodicied life. in the fail safe philosophy the designed component is made safe even if a local failure occurs and a sudden fracture is thus prevented. The fail sale is achieved by more tough material exploitation through heat treatment or alloying, otherwise by using auxiliary altachinent arresters to the eracked member either in- 35plane euch as by inserting internal strips [1] or out-of-plane such aa bolted or welded strips (2,3). ‘An analysis of the shear stresses in the adhesive and the SIF of doubly bonded crack-stiffened panels was carried out [4] for a center crack and edge crack subjected to Mode 1 or Mode Il loading. It was shown that reducing the adhesive thickness or increasing its shear modulus accrues more benefits and the stiffener ia the most effective when it is located close to the crack tip on the side opposite Lie ligament. A more recent work (51 summarized three test programs on specimens of 2024-T3 Alclod sheet material provided with different strips, at either one side or at both sides. Strip materials were 2024-73, 7075-16, i-6AL-4V and ARALL (Aramid Aluminum Laminates), The FCG and the experimental and calculated SIF values were predicted. Resulis showed a crack growth retardation depending on the strip matorial and its joining technique. A discussion of the cruck atopper banda io pressurized fuselage is also inciuded in this work showing that adhosive bonded ARALL crack stopper bands with advanced glass fibers is the most effective method. The Fatigue crack propagation in fustened stiffened panels was analytically demonstrated (6). It has been concluded that the SIF drops as the crack approaches the stringer and Uhe reduction becomes larger and it is a maximum when the crack has just passed the stringer ccnter line, When the crack passes the stringer the stiffening effect decreases, SIF range increases and so does fatigue crack growth rate (da/dN) but a reduction remains as the stringer conds to close the erack. ‘The aim of the present work is to verity experimentally in details previous analytiesl predictions. A speciaily planned experimental tecinique has been adopted to test sheet specimens with edge cracks, stiffened by welded stiffeners. 2, EXPERIMENTAL WORK ‘Test Specimen and Testing Machine ‘Tests are carried out on specimens of mild steel with chemical composition and mechanical properties given in tables 1 &2 respectively. The specimens were eut so that the slresses are applied parallel to the rolling direction, Two groups of specimens are prepared, plain (unstiffened) specimens and stiffened specimens as shown in Fig. 1& 2 respectively saw cut of 2-3 mm is introduced to the mid section depth of the specimen, then the specimen is cyclically loaded under a controlled load condition to produce a reasonable fatigue crack of approximate length 2-3 mm for plain specimens. In stiffened specimens series of cracks of length “aj” are made to determine the FCG ruie when the crack tip is under the stiffener as shown in Fig.2. 36Table 1. Chemical composition (Pereantage by weight) of Mild Steel (3722) Fey c a P “Ma Tal arr wz DoE we wt Table 2 Mechanical Properties of Mild Sicel (37/2) YS. N/a UTS (MNim*) |” Elongation % EQNim?) esd) 2350 4000 26 26" 10" Both the piain and stiffened specimens are heated to 650°C for 90 min, and cooled in furnace to relieve the residual stress ahead of the crack tip, The standard universal servo-controlled clectro hydraulie MS machine is used in tosts at a frequency of 25 Hz. 30 mm —somm — 3 Sem cot PE gipue hach 3 ho mn 0 mm— 10 min Fig. 1. Geomenry of pluin specimen Fig, 2. Geomeuy of stiffened specimen e.9. RESULTS EVALUATION TECHNIQUES Cyclic Stress Strain Behaviour ‘The eydlic a-e diagram of the tested mild steel as shown in Fig. 3 is determined from the ineremental set-up cyclic test [7] and the cyclic yield stress is oblsined. Stress Intensity Factor Approach Mode I stress intensity Factor Kj for plain specimen is determined by the following compliance function [8]. 90 379 onenyl™ saan ketpo at ?-001 wSsog a) Where t & w thickness and width of the specimen respectively and a is the crack length, ‘The threshold stress intensity factor range (SK) is also obtained by constructing the initial SIF ys the number of eycles to failure, Ng, as shown in Fig. 4. po % § 0d ; me ote} | (all i % rol. #100 : = i i —— “Wom ° ,€ 7 ° 5 ws ro) 709? 8 Sualaampliide x10, /2 x 1000 yell, Ny Fig. 3. Cyclic stress-strain behaviour of Fig. 4, Determination of the threshold lested steel, SIF range.For stiffened specimens the values of Ky are calculated experimentally by using the obtained (da/dN vs a) curve and (da/dN vs AK) curve for basic material, so as for cach value of “a” the experimental value (AK ,,) is obtained, as shown in Fig. 5, for one of the tested spedime Crack Growth Measurements ‘The observed crack length is measured by @ traveling microscope, which is a satisfactory method as the specimen is thin. Tn case of stiffened specimen when the crack grows under the stiffener, the crack can't be measured visually, A simple Lechnique is used to overcome this difficulty, in which a sories of cracks ia created to determine the crack growth under the stiffener by subtracting the period needed for the growth of a certain initial crack length to just pass the stiffener from the period noeded for the growth of an initial crack ahorter in length so that if an initial crack of length a; needs Ny cycles to extend to 25mm (just passes the stiffener) and a crack ay nods No cycles to reach 25 mm hence the eycles needed for a crack to extend a length (ag - ay) is (Ny- Ny) ‘Determination of Fatigue Crack Growth Rates For plain (unstiffened) specimen, Smith curve fitting technique (91 is applied on the data of crack length “a’ and number of cycles "N" to determine FCG rates (da/dN) at given crack length, while for stiffened specimens finite difference methods is used to dotermine FCG rates [10], The FCG may be retarded by the effect of the sudden change in the plastic zone size 11]. So, the stiffened test specimens have been annealed before adding the stiffener to relieve the residual stresses, and hence to prevent the effeet of sudden change in plastic zone size. Determination of Crack and Crack Tip Opening Displacement The crack opening displacement (COD) is predicted from the extension in the stiffener obtained from the curve relating the stress on the stiffoncr to the crack length,Fig, 10, and eyclic o- diagram,Fig, 3. While the crack tip opening displacement CTOD is calculated from the relation.CTOD = AK? /(E*A9,,). @ whore Adey is the cyclic yield stress range. 4, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION From the incremental step-up cyclic test, the cyclic c-e diagram is obtained as shown in Pig. 3 and the cyclic yield stress of mild steel tested is found to be about 198 MN/m®, The threshold stress intensity factor range (AK,,) obtained experimentally from Fig. 4 is in the range 6.5 to 8 MN/m¥> ‘Tho obtained values of da/dN and AK; for plain specimen are plotted in Fig. 6 for 10° < da/dN < 10°? mm/cycle and the mean line of the scatter is found to follow Paris law (4 = ¢ (A10" ) with the values of the constants “e“equal to 6.32" 10710 and "n" equal to 3.44 which agrees with previous work [12] giving fn equal to 3.33 for mild steel for the same range of da/dN. FCG rate dN (rence) a = 10 20 30 s 10 20 4a BO ‘Crack lenguh, 3 (min) SIF range , aK (MN An} ) Fig. 5: Determination of SIF range for stiffened specimen . 6. Basic curve of FCG behaviourFrom test results of unstiffened and stiffened specimens at the same load range on the unstilfened specimen (AP, ,,), it is found that the crack propagates in unstiffened specimens while it is arrested under the stiffener in stiffened specimens where da/dN is reduced to less than 10° mm/cycle. The offect of the stiffeners at higher load ranges (load range on the stiffened specimens, AP, , = 2.1.7, and 14 times AP,.,) on the FCG and SIF range is also studied and presonted in Figs. 7 and 8. ‘iiicner wid fst FOP 22 AP pe SIF range , AK QUIN?) FCG rate, da/8N (mmicycle) 10 10 20 0 to 20 30 Crack eng. a (mm) ‘Cesc engin, a (rv) Fig, 7. FCG in stiffened specimen. ig. 8. Effect of stiffener on STF range It can be seen that this effect may be divided into three regions, when the crack tip ie still before the stiffonor, under it and after passing the stiffener. In the first region, before the stiffener, FOG rate and SIF range have the same trend as for plain specimen as shown in Fig. 9. But, their values are emailer than that calculated for plain specimen which can be attributed to the portion of stress carried by the stiffener and causiny decrease in the stress al the crack lip and hence in SIF range and FCG 3arate. When the crack growa under the stiffener, the second region, the SIF range decreases gradually due to the closure of the crack tip by the stiffener reaction and also FCG rate decreases to a minimum value when the crack tip reaches the end of the stiffener. Then, when the crack passes the stiffener, third region, SIF range and FCG rate increase as the effect of the stiffener reaction diminishes, but still acts until the specimen fails completely. ‘The comparison between the experimental 4K, AKpyp. and OK prodicted from the relation AK = (Y* 4c{xa]/#) for plain specimen is illustrated in Fig. 9 in which 4K incroases due to the increase in the crack length “o", while AKgxp is reduced and the resulting, reduction of AKyyp may be explained by the distribution of the stress between the specimen material and the stiffener. When the crack length “a” increases and hence AKgyp decreases, as ‘mentioned before the actual stress range on the specimen Ad gy» shows a decrease in its value according to the relation. Adg¢y = (Kg, p/¥*fRal™®) ond hence the stress carried by the stiffener Ag, increases according to the relation A¢,,* S¢gpp° AG exp, Where Adapy is the applied load range as shown in Fig. 10. 320 pie wish 200] aoc, =198 & \ x NA oe 20 ee © 40 c Kee 2 BP +175 AP pe: 10 Fao aPala AP 5 ° 10 20 30 10 20 ink rg ne) Ged eerihatenl Fig 9. The comparison between ig, 10, Effect of erack length on the sires AMgxp and AIC calculated of the siiffeuer.From the stress on the stiffener Fig. 10 and the eyclic g-e curve of the maild stool Fig. 3 the extension in the stiffener is determined to represent COD. Fig.11 correlating the COD to the crack length shows that COD is little affected by the stiffener, while Fig. 12 giving the variation of CTOD with the crack length, shows that CTOD decreases as long as the crack tip TOD 103 (mm rT a 30 Gack tenga (oun) Crack lengh, (ay Fig, 11, Effect of the stiffencron Fig, 12. Effect of the stiffener on CTOD. cop. 5. CONCLUSION imentally that under fati id specimens the crack growth is arrested in the region under the welded stiffener in stiffened panels, These panels can withstand ‘higher load ranges with a delay sh the crack growth and henes in fatigue failure characterized by a decrease in the SIF range, in the FCG rate and in the CTOD specially in the region under the stiffener. eyREFERENCES 1 Bluhm, J., "Fracture Arrest.” V, Liebowitz Bd., Academic press, 1969, 2 Broek, D., Elementary Engineering Fracture Mechanics, Martenus Nijhoff publishers, 1982. 3 Mosborg, R, J., Behaviour of riveted and welded crack arrestors, Final report for ship struc. committee, Dopt. of civil Eng. Univ. of illinois, 1958, 4 Scthuraman,R., and Maiti, S.K., Finite clement analysis of doubly bonded crack-stiffened paneis under mode ! and mode II loading , Engng. Fract. Mech. Vol. 34 No. 2, (1989), 5 Schijve, J., Crack stopper and ARALL laminates, Engng, Fract. Mech, Vol. 37, No. 2 , (1990) 405-421. 6 Poe, C.C., Fatigue crack propagation in stiffened panels, ASTM STP 486, 971) 79.97 ‘7 McClintock, F.A., and Irwin, G.R., ASTM STP $81, (1968) 84. 8 Frost, NuK., March, KJ. and Pook, L.P., Mctal fatigue, Oxford, Charenden press, 1974. 9 Smith, R.A., The determination of FCG rates from experimental data, Int. J. Fract. Vol. 9, (1973) 352. 10 Sallam, H.E.M., Crack Arresters in Structural Steel Components, MsSe. Thesis, Zagazig Univ. Egypt, 1990. 11 Fouad, M.A., Retardation in fatigue crack growth, Ph. D. Thesis, Al- Azhar Univ., Egypt, 1984. 12 Hammouda, M.M.I., Smith, RA., and Miller, K., Elastic-plastic fracture’ mechanics for initiation and propagation of notch fatigue cracks, Fatigue of Eng. Mat. and Struc., No. 2, (1979)173,