{"title":"Investigation of a premature failure axle from a road-rail truck under rotary bending fatigue","authors":"Pedro R. da Costa , V. Infante , M. Freitas","doi":"10.1016/j.engfailanal.2025.109464","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.engfailanal.2025.109464","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The present study provides a detailed analysis of an axle from a road-rail truck. The main objective of this work was to characterize a premature axle fracture failure in the context of ongoing derailment investigations. A comprehensive material and macro/micro analysis of the axle fracture was conducted which revealed that the premature failure resulted from rotary bending fatigue. The fatigue fracture occurred specifically in the braking system attachment zone. Microscopy and SEM analysis demonstrated that initiation occurred on the surface of the axle. A combination of critical factors resulted in imposing stress below the fatigue strength and leading to a premature failure of the axle. The determined critical factors were fretting damage, stress induced by tightening, and rotary bending. Through the combination of all identified influential variables, multiple crack initiation sites were detected across the braking system press-fitted regions. Following the forensic examination, a plan was proposed outlining the necessary actions, checks, and tests necessary to correct the existing failure through maintenance and/or establishing the time intervals between axle inspections. Corrective actions were recommended regarding the assembly and regular inspection of the braking system, focusing on the contact pressure region with the axle. The routine inspection should include a thorough examination of the fretting affected region for potential cracks and uneven damage utilizing visual amplifying means and ultrasonic testing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11677,"journal":{"name":"Engineering Failure Analysis","volume":"173 ","pages":"Article 109464"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143520873","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hongbin Xie , Xianrui Zou , Fangfang Zhang , Xianjing Lu , Fang Zhang , Liuyi Huang , Fengping Zhong , Mao Cheng , Xuebin Wang , Jiabin Liu , Guoping Ling
{"title":"Failure analysis of weld cracking in wax oil cracking unit","authors":"Hongbin Xie , Xianrui Zou , Fangfang Zhang , Xianjing Lu , Fang Zhang , Liuyi Huang , Fengping Zhong , Mao Cheng , Xuebin Wang , Jiabin Liu , Guoping Ling","doi":"10.1016/j.engfailanal.2025.109467","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.engfailanal.2025.109467","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Pressure piping systems are a crucial component in chemical plants. However, pressure piping and its accessories in chemical plants are exposed to complex service environments, and defects in piping materials and welding further increase the risk of failure. This study analyzes the cracking failure of a drain valve in a paraffin oil cracking unit of a petrochemical enterprise. The location of the crack is the weld between the guide valve and the branch pipe, which is a full-penetration butt joint, employing a welding process of GTAW for the root pass and SMAW for the cover passes. Inspection and analysis revealed that stress concentration caused by defects on the inner wall of the valve, combined with sulfide corrosion in the medium, were the reasons for crack initiation. The cracks propagated under variable loads, and porosity defects in the weld seam and heat-affected zone accelerated the crack propagation rate, ultimately leading to corrosion fatigue failure of the valve. After analyzing the failure mechanism and process, we propose improvement suggestions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11677,"journal":{"name":"Engineering Failure Analysis","volume":"174 ","pages":"Article 109467"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143552217","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Shawqi Mohammed Farea, Mehmet Emin Mumcuoglu, Mustafa Unel
{"title":"An Explainable AI approach for detecting failures in air pressure systems","authors":"Shawqi Mohammed Farea, Mehmet Emin Mumcuoglu, Mustafa Unel","doi":"10.1016/j.engfailanal.2025.109441","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.engfailanal.2025.109441","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Air Pressure System (APS) plays a crucial role in heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs), supplying pressurized air to essential subsystems such as braking and suspension. APS failures normally lead to vehicles being stranded on the road with associated safety and financial risks. Although detecting these failures is essential to prevent such events, the detection trustworthiness is equally important given the high sensitivity of this issue. This paper addresses the problem of APS failure detection using Explainable Boosting Machine (EBM), a highly intelligible and interpretable glass-box model. A dataset of operational driving data from 110 healthy vehicles, without any APS failures, and 30 faulty vehicles, with detected APS failures, was collected. First, essential preprocessing steps were developed to deal with the hierarchical big data and to extract indicative features. The main objective of EBM is to distinguish faulty vehicles from healthy ones based on those features while providing explanations for its decisions. The model succeeded in detecting most of the faulty vehicles with a small proportion of false alarms (roughly 5%); the overall accuracy was 91.4% and the F1 score was 0.80. In addition, the provided explanations were thoroughly investigated to evaluate the validity and trustworthiness of the model decisions. At the same time, the explanations themselves were assessed based on domain knowledge to prove their efficacy and relevance. When compared with a human expert analysis, these explanations highly align with the experts’ knowledge of the APS problem. The proposed methodology is easily adaptable for other time-series predictive maintenance applications across different fields.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11677,"journal":{"name":"Engineering Failure Analysis","volume":"173 ","pages":"Article 109441"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143520876","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Luiza de Brito Fantin, Marcelo Ferreira Moreira, José Marcos Paz de Souza
{"title":"Failure analysis of a fractured stainless steel femoral bone plate","authors":"Luiza de Brito Fantin, Marcelo Ferreira Moreira, José Marcos Paz de Souza","doi":"10.1016/j.engfailanal.2025.109466","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.engfailanal.2025.109466","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigated a femoral bone plate that fractured after 6 months of use in a patient who had already experienced a similar implant failure. Chemical analyses, Vickers hardness measurements, and metallographic and fractographic examinations showed that the compression plate was following the chemical and microstructural requirements set by the ISO 5832 standard, and no material or manufacturing defects could be associated with the premature failure of the plate. The fracture occurred on the seventh of the fourteen holes of the plate and the failure mode was identified as bending fatigue. The main fatigue cracks nucleated on the edge of the compression hole and propagated through the plate towards the bone. Finite elements analysis results confirmed that fatigue crack nucleation sites were regions of maximum stress concentration. Lack of bone healing was the most probable cause for the excessive loading of the plate, and the failure might have been prevented with better stabilization of the bone fracture region, although analyses of surgical and post-operative medical procedures were outside the scope of this investigation. Additionally, a brief discussion regarding orthopedic implant failures in Brazil was conducted. By analyzing 25 other failure cases, it was found that most of them are related to the device itself and might have been prevented through a better technical certification process and implant monitoring by the national health regulatory agency.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11677,"journal":{"name":"Engineering Failure Analysis","volume":"173 ","pages":"Article 109466"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143520874","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xiaoxue Zhu , Chaojiang Hao , Ce Liang , Taoshuo Bai , Yao Qian , Jingmang Xu , Ping Wang
{"title":"Load characteristics analysis of the high-speed turnout rail bottom under random factors","authors":"Xiaoxue Zhu , Chaojiang Hao , Ce Liang , Taoshuo Bai , Yao Qian , Jingmang Xu , Ping Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.engfailanal.2025.109465","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.engfailanal.2025.109465","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The fatigue damage occurring at the rail bottom is one of the most common forms of damage observed in high-speed turnout. The dynamic mechanical behaviour of the wheel-rail system and the mechanical properties of the rail material are key factors influencing this fatigue damage. In this paper, a refined high-speed vehicle-frog dynamic interaction analysis model, which takes into account the material properties and complex constraints, was developed. The unreplicated saturated factorial design method was used to identify factors significantly influencing the multi-axial vibration fatigue of the frog. The time domain and frequency domain statistical characteristics of the rail load and rail bottom stress in the frog were then analysed. Additionally, the Gaussianity and stationarity of the random load in the frog were assessed. Using non-parametric kernel density estimation, the load was extrapolated, and a full life cycle load spectrum for the frog rail was developed. Finally, a mapping relationship between the load and rail bottom stress was established.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11677,"journal":{"name":"Engineering Failure Analysis","volume":"173 ","pages":"Article 109465"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143512010","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xin Gao , Hongliang Liu , Liping Li , Shangan Li , Hongyun Fan , Shicheng Wang , Hui Cai
{"title":"Analysis of cascade collapse mechanism and prediction model for determining collapse height of block rock tunnel","authors":"Xin Gao , Hongliang Liu , Liping Li , Shangan Li , Hongyun Fan , Shicheng Wang , Hui Cai","doi":"10.1016/j.engfailanal.2025.109463","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.engfailanal.2025.109463","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Excavation in underground engineering projects, such as tunnels and subterranean caverns, poses significant risks of sudden and destructive collapse. To explore the mechanisms and factors influencing collapse in stratified parallel structure without support, laboratory model tests, numerical simulations, and machine learning techniques have been employed. Five model tests have been utilized to focus on rock mass instability during tunnel construction, using the optical flow method to analyze instability characteristics and coupling effects in block crack tunnels. Model tests on jointed rock evaluates the surrounding rock behavior using the Universal Distinct Element Code, identifying six collapse modes and quantitatively analyzing factors governing collapse height through range analysis method. The ranking of these influential factors is: bedding inclination > tunnel span > joint friction Angle > tunnel buried depth > lateral pressure coefficient > joint spacing > joint cohesion > elastic modulus > Poisson’s ratio. The k-Nearest Neighbor algorithm is employed to develop a stable state prediction model of surrounding rock. One-variable nonlinear and multiple linear regression analyses are performed on influencing factors with a range greater than 1.5, leading to the establishment of a collapse height prediction model. The prediction results achieved over 88 % accuracy when validated against the five laboratory tests. This model was also applied to analyze the Ganggou tunnel collapse on the Beijing-Shanghai Expressway, confirming its effectiveness in predicting collapse heights. The research findings provide valuable insights for predicting, preventing, and managing the stability of surrounding rock during excavation in block fissure areas, offering significant engineering application value.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11677,"journal":{"name":"Engineering Failure Analysis","volume":"173 ","pages":"Article 109463"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143520875","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kai Wang , Xiang Zhang , Yiqiao Wang , Kangnan Li , Jiazhi Sun , Aitao Zhou , Feng Du , Yangyang Guo
{"title":"Progressive failure analysis and fractures space model construction of overlying strata in shallow multi-seam overlapping mining","authors":"Kai Wang , Xiang Zhang , Yiqiao Wang , Kangnan Li , Jiazhi Sun , Aitao Zhou , Feng Du , Yangyang Guo","doi":"10.1016/j.engfailanal.2025.109462","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.engfailanal.2025.109462","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The comprehension of the collapse law of overlying strata and the corresponding evolution of overburden fractures is the foundation for solving mine disasters related to rock mass dynamics and fluid flow in shallow multi-seam mining, and the correlation study is inadequate. In this work, a three-dimensional (3D) model of shallow multi-seam is developed based on discrete element method to simulate the whole process of overlapping mining. The overburden caving, fracture propagation and strata subsidence are investigated from a spatial perspective, and the evolution and distribution of highly fractured areas are assessed. Based on the stability and transformation characteristics of the collapsed overburden structure influenced by geological features and the disturbance of secondary mining, the propagation mechanism of overburden fractures is determined. Additionally, a calculation criteria of overburden collapse and fractures development height in shallow multi-seam mining with separation height as a single judgment factor is proposed. The spatial distribution models of overburden fractures in full mining stage of upper and lower coal seams are established singly, and regions are divided based on the degree of fracturing. Finally, the spatial models of overburden fractures is verified and supplemented by field investigations of morphology and distribution features of surface cracks.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11677,"journal":{"name":"Engineering Failure Analysis","volume":"173 ","pages":"Article 109462"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143508818","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Penghu Bao , Gang Hui , Yafei Hu , Rui Song , Zhangxin Chen , Ke Zhang , Zhiyang Pi , Ye Li , Chenqi Ge , Fuyu Yao , Yujie Zhang , Fei Gu
{"title":"Comprehensive characterization of hydraulic fracture propagations and prevention of pre-existing fault failure in Duvernay shale reservoirs","authors":"Penghu Bao , Gang Hui , Yafei Hu , Rui Song , Zhangxin Chen , Ke Zhang , Zhiyang Pi , Ye Li , Chenqi Ge , Fuyu Yao , Yujie Zhang , Fei Gu","doi":"10.1016/j.engfailanal.2025.109461","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.engfailanal.2025.109461","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Because of the inherent complexity of shale reservoirs and pre-existing natural fractures (NF) and faults, an accurate characterization of hydraulic fracture propagations has not been well investigated. This paper proposed an integrated geoengineering method to comprehensively characterize the non-uniform fracture propagations in shale reservoirs, integrating high-quality three-dimensional (3D) seismic, well-logging, experiments, and microseismicity. The results show that the Duvernay shale is strongly heterogeneous in petrophysics and geomechanics. The Duvernay shale reservoir is controlled by two phases of tectonics, resulting in the development of high-angle natural faults/fractures with average azimuths of NE18° and SE115°. Considering the coupling between NF as well as stress shadowing effects, a full hydro-mechanical coupling model for hydraulic fractures (HF) was developed and restrained by up to 25,000 microseismicity events. Simulated post-frac productivity conforms to the actual productivity by up to 87%, showing the robustness of the unconventional fracture model. The pre-existing faults should be recognized beforehand, and some mitigation strategies can be made to avoid hydraulic communications between hydraulic fractures and pre-existing faults, effectively developing unconventional shale resources.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11677,"journal":{"name":"Engineering Failure Analysis","volume":"173 ","pages":"Article 109461"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143520872","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jian Cao , Kexin Jiao , Jianliang Zhang , Cui Wang , Ming Lei , Huangyu Shi
{"title":"Analysis of erosion morphology characteristics and mechanism of carbon brick in blast furnace hearth","authors":"Jian Cao , Kexin Jiao , Jianliang Zhang , Cui Wang , Ming Lei , Huangyu Shi","doi":"10.1016/j.engfailanal.2025.109456","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.engfailanal.2025.109456","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The macro and micro morphology, phase, and chemical composition of carbon bricks in a large blast furnace (BF) hearth after service were analyzed. The results show that the blast furnace hearth presents “elephant foot” erosion as a whole, the ceramic pad at the bottom of the BF is completely eroded, and the erosion in the taphole area is the most serious. The erosion of carbon bricks above the taphole is mainly affected by the harmful element zinc. The erosion at the taphole is mainly caused by zinc erosion, potassium erosion, and slag-iron alternating erosion. The “elephant foot” erosion morphology is mainly caused by the circumferential flow of molten iron. The erosion morphology of the BF bottom is mainly affected by the gas blowby, resulting in the uplift of the foundation of BF and the crushing of the ceramic pad. The serious erosion of the hearth taphole area of the BF is mainly affected by the flow of molten iron. The essence of carbon brick erosion by molten iron is that carbon atoms are separated from the carbon brick, enter the interstitial position of iron atoms, and may form a solid solution.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11677,"journal":{"name":"Engineering Failure Analysis","volume":"173 ","pages":"Article 109456"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143508817","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Engineering analysis of a critical RC straight girder bridge under contact blast in reducing dynamic impact and failure using the FEM-SPH coupling and non-Explosive Reactive Armour","authors":"Somnath Karmakar , Shuvra Saha , Amit Shaw","doi":"10.1016/j.engfailanal.2025.109422","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.engfailanal.2025.109422","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Worldwide terrorist activities have been increasing rapidly, particularly over infrastructure, which strongly demands the identification of failure modes, dynamic response, risk assessment and prevention. Research has continuously improved the shaped charge and ballistic-resistant performance of the structures. Literature updates show that the right material choice may help to achieve the goal. Therefore, the present study selects an existing 20.4 m full RC straight highway girder bridge, over which one layer of the steel-based non-Explosive Reactive Armour (nERA) has been wrapped as protective material using surface-to-surface contact to explore its effect on reducing failure mode and dynamic response of the bridge under contact blast using computer simulation through the coupling of the Finite Element Method (FEM) and Smoothed Particles Hydrodynamics (SPH). In addition, 54 explosives have been applied over the top surface of the approach slab, the earth’s surface at footing level enclosed by both abutments and the top and bottom surfaces of the deck. Specifically, the analysis concentrates on the Damaged contours and shock wave propagations, Damaged contours and particle formation, Effective plastic strain (EPS), Direct damage-reduction of the bridge, and Failure modes. Finally, the effect of the nERA is significantly positive in reducing failure mode and improving the dynamic response.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11677,"journal":{"name":"Engineering Failure Analysis","volume":"173 ","pages":"Article 109422"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143512009","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}