Fluid Structure Interactions Research Group

Investigations on Fatigue Reliability of Welded Structures with Applications to High-Speed Trains

Zhanxun Song zs1c09@soton.ac.uk - School of Engineering Sciences, UK Beijing Jiaotong University, PRC Supervisors Prof. J. T. Xing and Dr. Y. P. Xiong Background
With the increasing train speed, the static and dynamic stresses in train structures are rapidly increased. There are a lot of welded structures in a train. Since welded structure has many flaws, the fatigue life of welded structures is much shorter than base metal. Investigations on fatigue reliability of welded structure is an important topic for Figure 1: China Railway High-speed (CRH) transportation safety.

Fatigue Fracture
There are a lot of methods for crack speed, Forman (1983) model is very accurate for researching fatigue fracture, the crack speed formula:

Kth p C (1 f ) K (1 ) da K K dN n (1 R) (1 )q (1 R)K c
n n

There are a lot of research methods for fracture. Two methods are used very often for welded structures: stress intensity factor (SIF) and strain energy density factor (SEDF). SIF: SEDF:

K M kYS a
2 2 S [(1 2v) / 4 ]K12 (1 2v) / 4 ( K1max K2min )

Aim & Method

Aim:
Estimate flaws of welded structure, find the influence of each kind flaw for fatigue life of welded structure. Stress influenced by arc, weld root, weld toe etc. Simulation the process of fracture of welded structure. Deal with load spectrum of welded structure in train. Predict fatigue life of weld structure in high speed train.

Fatigue Testing
Material experiment: Fatigue performance experiment of welded structure can be done by two methods: low frequency and high frequency.

Use the low frequency when fatigue life is short.

Use the high frequency when fatigue life is long.

Method:

Fatigue Problems of welded structure Numerical Simulation

Figure 4: Low frequency experiment Figure 5: High frequency experiment

Testing Stress spectrum analysis Predict fatigue life

Stress testing: Strain of welded structure in train can be measured by using strain gauge. The stress can be calculated and the stress spectrum can be obtained using the rain flow counting method. Stress spectrum model:

i (t ) X i (t ) Dc Ei si

Simulation

Numerical simulations are carried out using software of ANSYS and ABAQUS. The following two figures show the mesh structure and simulation results of a T-welded joint fixed at the two side edges of the bottom and subject to a uniform pressure on the top section of the vertical plate. In the simulations, the characteristic of geometry and material on the welded areas must be considered. Figure 6: Stress spectrum of High-speed train

Conclusions and Future Work

Fatigue life of important parts in train structures can be estimated by using the studied method. Simulation approach validated by the experiments could save cost for further fatigue analysis. Predict fatigue life could get the reliability of high-speed train, decrease accident. Figure 2: Mesh model of T welded structure Figure 3: Result of stress analysis

Fatigue reliability of weld structure should be research. Fracture characteristic of welded structure must be research. Predict fatigue life should be research.

Beijing Jiaotong University