Paper Title:

Characterization of Early Fatigue Damage in Welded Structures by Thermal Imaging

Periodical Key Engineering Materials (Volumes 348 - 349)
Main Theme Advances in Fracture and Damage Mechanics VI
Edited by J. Alfaiate, M.H. Aliabadi, M. Guagliano and L. Susmel
Pages 297-300
DOI 10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.348-349.297
Citation Justus Medgenberg et al., 2007, Key Engineering Materials, 348-349, 297
Online since September, 2007
Authors Justus Medgenberg, Thomas Ummenhofer
Keywords Cyclic Plasticity, Fatigue Crack, Fatigue Damage, Infrared Thermography IRT, Thermoelastic Stress Analysis, Welded Structures
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Abstract

The paper presents background information and experimental results regarding the assessment of fatigue damage in welded steel structures by thermographic investigations of thermomechanical coupling effects. The results confirm the high potential of specialized thermographic methods for the experimental characterization of all stages of fatigue damage in welded and un-welded components. The technique provides a new experimental mean to investigate early inhomogeneous fatigue damage as mesoplasticity and cracks in the weld toe. The method has been successfully applied during fatigue testing of welded components and allows detecting localized damage as early as 10% to 20% of the total fatigue lifetime of the tested specimens.