Fatigue life estimation method and system
View Patent ↗A method to estimate the fatigue life of a component operable under cyclic stress is provided. A system including testing device for performing a strain controlled test of a component or a representative specimen of the component, to obtain therefrom a first set of data samples including measured stress amplitude values for varying applied strain levels, and a second set of data samples including measured number of cycles to crack initiation for varying applied strain levels is also provided. The system further includes a modeling device for fitting a first low cycle fatigue material curve on the first set of data samples and a second low cycle fatigue material curve on the second set of data samples.
1. A method for fatigue life estimation of a component operable under cyclic stress, comprising:
obtaining, from strain controlled low cycle fatigue test data of the component or representative specimen of the component, a first set of data samples comprising measured stress amplitude values for varying test strain levels, and a second set of data samples comprising a plurality of measured cycles to crack initiation for varying test strain levels, and
operating a processing device for:
fitting a first low cycle fatigue material curve on the first set of data samples and a second low cycle fatigue material curve on the second set of data samples, the first curve and the second curve are defined respectively by a first and a second set of curve parameters, wherein the values of the first and said second set of curve parameters are determined so as to maximize a likelihood function defined as
L
:=
∏
j
=
1
n
f
σ
(
σ
a
,
j
❘
θ
C
1
,
ɛ
a
,
j
)
·
∏
k
=
1
m
f
N
(
N
i
,
k
❘
θ
C
2
,
ɛ
a
,
k
)
,
wherein
f σ and f N are probability distribution functions,
ε a,j and ε a,k represent test strain levels in the first and second sets of data samples respectively,
σ a,j represents measured stress amplitude values in the first set of data samples
N i,k represents the plurality of measured cycles to crack initiation in the second set of data samples,
θ C1 and θ C2 represent the first set and second set of curve parameters respectively; and
determining an estimated fatigue life of the component using the first and second low cycle fatigue material curves.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein determining the estimated fatigue life of the component by the processing device further comprises:
determining a resulting strain on the component using a first stress-strain relationship defined by the first low cycle fatigue material curve, the deteimining is based on a calculated stress in the component, and
determining a low cycle fatigue life of the component using a second strain-life relationship defined by the second LCF material curve, the determining is based on the determined resulting strain.
3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the probability distribution functions f σ and f N represent log normal distributions.
4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein computing the first set and the second set of curve parameters comprises determining a plurality of parameters for which a negative logarithm of the likelihood functional assumes a minimum value, such that the likelihood functional is maximized.
5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first low cycle fatigue material curve is defined by a Romberg-Osgood equation based relationship between stress ‘σ a ’ and strain ‘ε a ’, wherein
ɛ
a
=
RO
(
σ
a
)
=
σ
a
E
+
(
σ
a
K
′
)
1
/
n
′
,
and wherein E, K′ and n′ form the first set of curve parameters θ C1 the values of which are determined such that the likelihood function is maximized.
6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the second low cycle fatigue material curve is defined by a Coffin-Manson-Basquin equation based relationship between strain ‘ε a ’ and a plurality of cycles to crack initiation ‘N i ’, wherein
ɛ
a
=
CMB
(
N
i
)
=
σ
f
′
E
(
2
N
i
)
b
+
ɛ
f
′
(
2
N
i
)
c
,
and wherein ε′ f , σ′ f , E, b and c form the second set of curve parameters θ C2 the values of which are determined such that the likelihood function is maximized.
7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a first parameter in the first set of parameters and a second parameter in the second set of parameters includes a predetermined fixed value from known material characteristics of the component.
8. A method for operating a component under cyclic stress, comprising:
controlling a downtime or maintenance interval of the component by taking into account an estimated fatigue life of the component,
wherein the estimated fatigue life is determined by the method of claim 1 .
9. The method as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the component is a gas turbine component.
10. A system for fatigue life estimation of a component under cyclic stress, comprising:
a testing means for performing a strain controlled low cycle fatigue test of the component or a representative specimen of the component, to obtain therefrom a first set of data samples comprising measured stress amplitude values for varying test strain levels, and a second set of data samples comprising a plurality of measured cycles to crack initiation for varying test strain levels,
a modeling means for fitting a first low cycle fatigue material curve on the first set of data samples and a second low cycle material curve on the second set of data samples, the first low cycle fatigue material curve and the second low cycle material are defined respectively by a first and a second set of curve parameters, wherein the values of the first and the second set of curve parameters are determined so as to maximize a likelihood functional defined as
L
:=
∏
j
=
1
n
f
σ
(
σ
a
,
j
❘
θ
C
1
,
ɛ
a
,
j
)
·
∏
k
=
1
m
f
N
(
N
i
,
k
❘
θ
C
2
,
ɛ
a
,
k
)
,
wherein
f σ and f N are probability distribution functions,
ε a,j and ε a,k represent test strain levels in the first and second sets of data samples respectively,
σ a,j represents measured stress amplitude values in the first set of data samples
N i,k represents the measured number of cycles to crack initiation in the second set of data samples,
θ C1 and θ C2 represent the first set and second set of curve parameters respectively, and
a design means for determining an estimated fatigue life of the component using the first and second low cycle fatigue material curves.
11. The system as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the design means is further adapted for determining an estimated fatigue life of the component by:
determining a resulting strain on the component based on a calculated stress in the component using a first stress-strain relationship defined by the first low cycle fatigue material curve, and
determining a low cycle fatigue life of the component based on the determined resulting strain using a second strain-life relationship defined by the second low cycle fatigue material curve.
12. The system as claimed in claim 10 , further comprising a control means controlling a downtime or maintenance interval of the component by taking into account the estimated fatigue life of the component.