Variable Loading Sequence Effect for Thermal Fatigue at a Mixing Tee

Abstract

Mixing flow causes fluctuations in fluid temperature near the pipe wall and may result in fatigue crack initiation. In a previous study, the authors reported the characteristics of the thermal stress to cause thermal fatigue at a mixing tee. A large stress fluctuation was caused by movement of the hot spot, at which the pipe wall was heated by hot flow from the branch pipe. According to a general procedure, fatigue damage is calculated by the linear damage accumulation rule. However, it has been reported that Miner’s rule does not always predict the fatigue life conservatively for variable stress amplitude. In this study, we investigated the change in fatigue life due to variable strain around the hot spot. The time histories of the strain around the hot spot were estimated by finite element analysis (FEA) for which the temperature condition was determined by wall temperature measured in a mock-up test. Strain-controlled fatigue tests were conducted using smooth cylindrical specimens made of stainless steel. The fatigue damage at failure of the specimen was calculated using Miner’s rule. The calculated fatigue damage around the hot spot became less than unity and the minimum value was 0.18. Therefore, Miner’s rule predicted non-conservative fatigue life. In addition, the calculated fatigue damage inside the hot spot was larger than those outside the hot spot and at the position of maximum stress fluctuation. Fatigue tests using strain with periodic overload were also conducted in order to investigate the effect of the loading history on fatigue life. It was shown that the strain with periodic overload reduced the fatigue life. The calculated fatigue damage for the strain at the maximum position of stress fluctuation range seemed to be smaller than those at other positions. This implies that the fatigue life can be estimated conservatively from the viewpoint of the loading sequence effect by calculating the fatigue damage using Miner’s rule for the strain at the maximum position of stress fluctuation range.