doi: 10.3850/S201042862015001180

Residual Life Prediction of Crane Structure Materials Using Coercive Force Approach

Shuai Xu¹, Yunxin Li¹, Siusiu Guo², Yuyong Wang³, Zishun Liu¹ and Soon Chong Tok^{3 1}International Center for Applied Mechanics; State Key Laboratory for Strength and Vibration of Mechanical Structures,
Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, China ²School of Civil Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, China ³Portek International Pte Ltd, 237 Pandan Loop, #02-01 Westech Building,
128424, Singapore

ABSTRACT

The big safety factors were normally used in the conversation designs, thus there are still residual resources for metal structures after finishing their working lives. The most damage criteria for lifting crane are referring to fatigue damage. Due to safety regulation and asset management requirements, the evaluation of the residual life time becomes necessary for many crane structures. The coercive force in the structure is susceptible to structural features of materials. During the fatigue process, the coercive force in the structure becomes bigger and bigger with the increasing of dislocation density. Thus, the coercive force can be used to identify the fatigue damage status of the structure in nondestructive testing. In this study, relevant specimen testing and analyses for predicting residual life are carried out. We perform tests on two types of materials: i.e. Q345 and Q235 steel materials. Both static tension and fatigue tests are carried out. According to the results of static tension test, characteristic values of coercive force can be used uniquely to characterize the defected modes of specimens. From fatigue tests, the coercive forces vs. fatigue cycles relation are investigated. Furthermore, the degree of fatigue damage and residual life of specimens can be estimated by the values of coercive force. We hope our works could be helpful for the residual life prediction of fatigue structure in engineering, such as crane structure.

Keywords: Crane structure, Nondestructive testing, Fatigue, Residual life, Coercive force.

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