Analysis of Fretting Fatigue Crack Initiation in A Riveted Two Aluminum Specimen

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Journal of Applied Mathematics and Physics, 2013, 1, 48-53

Published Online November 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/jamp)


http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jamp.2013.16010

Analysis of Fretting Fatigue Crack Initiation in a Riveted


Two Aluminum Specimen*
Li Huan1,2, Guo Ran2#, Cheng He Ming2, Wei Yeqing3
1

College of Polytechnics, Yunnan Agriculture University, Kunming, China


Department of Engineering Mechanics, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China
3
Yunnan Traffic Co., Ltd., Kunming, China
Email: 44997946@qq.com, #guoran99@mails.tsinghua.edu.cn, 86953734@qq.com

Received October 2013

ABSTRACT
Based on the existing experiment results, the fretting fatigue contact geometry of a riveted two aluminum specimen was
studied using the finite element method. The contact stress fields of the inner and outer contact edges on the two specimens up and down surface under different contact friction coefficient and the fatigue loads were analyzed, the influences of the contact friction coefficient and remote stress on crack initiation were discussed. The results were in well
agreement with the observations of the existing experiments, that is, the crack initiated places of the first aluminum
specimen change from the area of 900 to 450, and the crack initiated places of the second aluminum specimen change
from the area of 900 to 1350 with the increase of the friction coefficient and the remote stress.
Keywords: A Riveted Two Aluminum Specimen; Crack Initiation; Frictional Coefficient; Fatigue Loads

1. Introduction
Fretting fatigue is one of the main reasons for the failure
of structure components, even the causes of many major
accidents in the fields of aviation, transportation and
mechanics etc. The fretting fatigue begins with the wear
and sometimes corrosion damage at the asperities of the
contact surfaces of the riveted components, which will
further induce the initiation and propagation of microcracks. With the appearance of the micro-cracks, the fatigue strength of the riveted components will significantly reduce, leading to the decrease of the components
service life [1]. Actually, the fretting fatigue is a damage
process which is induced by the cyclic stress that works
on the asperities of the materials near-surface and causes
the locally permanent structure deformations on the surface [2]. Under the action of the cyclic stress, the components immediately enter into a fatigue development
process. The results of the damage accumulation during
this process are the initiation and propagation of the
cracks, following with the final fracture to end the
process. The researches of fretting fatigue are very significant to ease fretting damage industry today. Due to
the complicate deformation process and the difficulties
on current experimental measurements, the researches of
*

Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11072092 and 11262007).
#
Corresponding author.

Open Access

the stress states in the contact area are mainly resorted to


the numerical simulation methods. For example, M.A.M
cCarthy and C.T.M cCarthy etc [3] have constructed the
FEM model of a 3-D bolt-alaminated plate to analyze the
plates contact stress. Mutoh, ect [4] analyzed the stress
distribution in the contact areas of a specimen contacting
with a rectangular fretting pad, based on which the fretting fatigue life of the specimen was studied by using
fracture mechanics theories and was found to be well
consistent with the experimental results.
Thus, following the methods and theories employed by
Mutoh [4], a riveted two aluminum plate specimen was
constructed and studied. The distributions of the normal
stress and shear stress in the contact area between the
two contacting aluminum plates were analyzed to find
out the positions of the maximum stress and displacement.

2. The Analysis of Influence Factors on


Fretting Fatigue
There are many factors influencing fretting fatigue, including all kinds of fretting parameters, displacement
amplitude and environmental factors etc [5-8], the driving force of crack initiation is micro power, including
tangential force caused by surface friction, the tensile
stress and shear stress in the component body, and tensile
stress and shear stress generated by contact pressure
(namely the clamping force). The quantitative formula of
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49

driving force of crack growth [9] is:

ff f 2 P0 (1 e S K )
=

Aluminum plate II

(1)

Type: is the contact surface friction coefficient, P0 is


the contact pressure (Pa), S is the fretting slip amplitude
(M), K is formula constant having a length dimension
(m). Specimens of stress which fatigue crack initiation
required is f, load stress which lead to specimens fatigue crack is ff. ff is the component's fatigue strength
fretting and f is the components fatigue strength no
fretting. Fatigue strength in a micro component is smaller
than which without fretting, which can be seen from this
formula, and the difference between the two depends on
P0, and S, that is to say the fretting fatigue strength is
related to friction coefficient, contact pressure and slip
amplitude and so on, yet the slip amplitude is directly
related to fatigue loading. So, based on the above mentioned theory, the fretting fatigue contact geometry of a
riveted two aluminum specimen was studied using the
finite element method. The contact stress fields of the
inner and outer contact edges on the two specimens up
and down surface under different contact friction coefficient and the fatigue loads were analyzed, the influences
of the contact friction coefficient and remote stress on
crack initiation and propagation mechanism were discussed.

3. Modeling
3.1. Computational Model
The 3D finite element model of the rived aluminum specimen and its meshing result are showed in Figure 1. In
order to reduce the computational cost, only half of the
FEM model is constructed according to the symmetries
of the specimen. The model is composed of 8 parts, including two aluminum plates, one screw bolt, one protective sleeve, two screw caps and two gaskets. In order to
further reduce the model size and computational cost, the
reducing of the meshing numbers and contact areas is
are often adopted in the FEM simulation. Thus, we treat
the screw bolt, the protective sleeve, the screw caps and
the gaskets as an integrated section to neglect the contacts between those parts. Three contacts regions are investigated in the simulations as shown in Figure 2: The
first region is the contact area between the upper protective sleeves lower surface and the aluminum plate Is
upper surface; the second region is the contact area between the two aluminum plates; the third region is the
area between the lower protective sleeves upper surface
and the aluminum plate IIs lower surface. Among these
three regions, the stress distributions of upper and lower
surfaces of the two aluminum plates are emphatically
analyzed to evaluate the specimens fatigue life. The
eight-node hexahedral solid elements are employed in the
Open Access

Aluminum plate I

Figure 1. FEM model of the rived aluminum specimen.

Figure 2. Contact regions.

simulation, where the total element number and node


number are 10336 and 13686. The contact area of the
two aluminum plates is 219.142 mm2 with a contact
width of 4.5 mm. The hole radius and thickness are set as
5.5 mm and 6 mm, respectively. The length and width
are respective 230 mm and 60 mm. The aluminum plates
longitudinal axis is axis X, forward direction points to
longitudinal remote end. Transverse axis is axis Y, the
screw bolts axis is axis Z, origin of coordinates is located in the centre of the hole. Normal chain bar constraints are exerted as boundary condition in fornter of
the model (y = 0).

3.2. Mechanics of Material Constants


In computing object this time, expect the two aluminum
plates whose Youngs modulus E and Poissons ratio
are 40 GPa and 0.3, all the other parts of the specimen
are C45 steels with E = 210 GPa and = 0.3. Due to the
elastic stress states of the screw bolt during its service
process, the screw bolt is regarded as an elastic material
in current simulation while the plasticity is taken into
consideration for all the other parts of the specimen. Because the analytical objects are connected components in
the fields of aviation and high speed train systems etc, so
the work temperature is really the same as environmental
temperature. Material temperature effect is not taken into
consideration. Material constants of every component are
showed in Table 1.

3.3. Computational Method


In order to simulate the fastening process of the screw
bolt, the FEM model with a clearance of d between the
spaces of the two gaskets and the aluminum plates
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ET AL.
Aluminum plate I

parts

protective sleeve, screw


screw bolt specimen
caps and gaskets
C45 steels
aluminum
(elasticity)

material

C45 steels
(elastoplasticity)

Youngs modulus E

210 GPa

210 GPa

70 GPa

Poissons ratio

0.3

0.3

0.3

thickness is constructed firstly. Through the adjustment


of d, different fastening forces could be simulated. The
fastening process is realized through the following two
steps: on the first step, the tension load is applied on the
screw bolt to make the gaskets and the plates separate; on
the second step, the tension load is released gradually to
make the separation recover. During this recovery process, the gaskets would gradually fasten the aluminum
plates when the contact relations between them are taken
into consideration. The fatigue load is applied on the
right end of the aluminum plate with the maximum stress
of s = 200 MPa and fatigue load stress ratio of R = 0.1.
The contact stresses are studied using the direct constraint method, which would accurately track the movement of the contact bodies and the occurrence of the
contact [10]. Once the contact occurs, the direct constraint method would directly adjust the displacements of
the contact nodes by modifying their boundary conditions.

4. Results and Discussion


The contact surface is in compressive stress state when
the shear stress of nodes in contact areas is negative value, which makes against fatigue crack initiation and
propagation. The contact surface is in tensile stress state
when the shear stress of nodes in contact areas is positive
value, which provides the advantageous condition for
fatigue crack initiation and propagation. In consideration
of the larger relative slip distance of corresponding nodes
in contact edges, The variational condition of the circumferential normal stress fields of the inner contact
edges on the two specimens up and down surface (this
region are mainly subject to ordinary fatigue) and the
shear stress fields of the outer contact edges on the two
specimens up and down surface (fretting fatigue region)
are analyzed. Contact area is showed in Figure 3. The
distributions of stress amplitude in the inner and outer
circle contact edges of the aluminum plates under different friction coefficient and fatigue load conditions are
discussed as follow.

4.1. Influence of Friction Coefficient on the


Initiation of Cracks
To investigate the influence of friction coefficient on the
Open Access

Fatigue load

Table 1. The mechanical parameters of the parts.


Contact area

(a)

Aluminum plate II

Contact area

Fatigue load

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50

x
(b)

Figure 3. Contact area. The outer circle contact edges;


The inner circle contact edges.

initiation of cracks in the contact region, the fastening


force and fatigue stress are set constant as 5.5 KN and
200 MPa, while three different friction coefficients, 0.35,
0.5 and 0.7, are considered. The maximum and minimum
of the normal stress and shear stress on the aluminum
plate Is lower surface and aluminum plate IIs upper
surface during one cycle of fatigue loading are analyzed
to obtain the stress amplitudes (max min and max
min). The distributions of the stress amplitudes along the
inner and outer circle contact edges of the two plates
contact areas are calculated and shown in Figure 4.
Based on Figure 4, the influence of friction coefficient
on the stress amplitude can be obtained by analyzing the
extreme values in those curves in Figure 4.
It can be seen from Figures 4(b) and (d) that the maximum normal stress amplitudes max of the inner contact
edges of the two aluminum plates locate at the about 90
from the fatigue loading direction. However, it is interesting to find that the positions of max on the plate I
tend to change slightly toward the fatigue loading direction, while those on the plate II are just opposite, which
tend to change slightly away from the fatigue loading
direction. For both two plates, max decrease with the
increasing of friction coefficient. It indicates that the increasing of friction coefficient, on the one hand, would
weaken the role of traditional fatigue damage on the
aluminum plates and delay the corresponding crack initiation at the 90 region near the hole; and on the other
hand, would strengthen the role of fretting fatigue damage
and lead to the transition of the crack initiation positions
from 90 point at the inner edge to 45 point at the outer
edge for plate I and from 90 point at the inner edge to
135 point at the outer edge for plate II.
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150

51

500

120

(=0.35)
(=0.5)
(=0.7)

90

(=0.35)
(=0.5)
(=0.7)

400
300

60

20

40

60

80

100

-30

120

140

160

180

200

angle degree

MPa

-60
-90

200
100
0
0

20

MPa

stress amplitudes

stress amplitudes

30

40

60

-120
-150

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

angle degree

-100
-200

(a)

(b)

120

(f=0.35)
(f=0.5)
(f=0.7)

60

400

20

40

60

80

-30
-60
-90

100

120

140

160

180

200

angle degree

stress amplitudes

MPa

stress amplitudes

30

(=0.35)
(=0.5)
(=0.7)

300
200
100
0
0
-100

-120
-150

20

MPa

90

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

angle degree

-200

(c)

(d)

Figure 4. The distributions of stress amplitude in the inner and outer circle contact edges of the aluminum plates under different friction coefficient conditions. (a) The outer circle contact edges of the aluminum plate Is upper surface; (b) The inner
circle contact edges of the aluminum plate Is upper surface; (c) The outer circle contact edges of the aluminum plate IIs
lower surface; (d) The inner circle contact edges of the aluminum plate IIs lower surface.

It can be observed from Figures 4(a) and (c) that he


maximum shear stress amplitudes max of the outer contact edges of plate I increase with the friction coefficient
at 0 - 90 region around the hole while decrease with the
friction coefficient at 90 - 180 region around the hole.
Thus, when the fastening force and fatigue stress are
fixed, increasing of the friction coefficient would increase the friction force at 45 region of the plate I, improve the driving force to initiate and propagate the
cracks and strengthen the role of fretting fatigue damage
at this region. The situation is just opposite for plate II,
max decrease with the friction coefficient at 0 - 90
region while increase with the friction coefficient at 90 1800 region. Thus, when the fastening force and fatigue
stress are fixed, increasing of the friction coefficient
would strengthen the role of fretting fatigue damage at
135 region. From the above discussion, we can reach the
conclusion that increasing the friction coefficient would
result in the initiation of cracks at 45 region of plate Is
outer contact edge and the initiation of cracks at 135
Open Access

region of plate IIs outer contact edge.

4.2. Influence of Fatigue Load on the Initiation


of Cracks
To investigate the influence of fatigue load on the initiation of cracks in the contact region, the fastening force
and friction coefficient are set constant as 4 KN and 0.5,
while three different fatigue stresses, 150 MPa, 200 MPa
and 250 MPa, are considered. Following the same analysis process in Section 4.1, the distributions of the stress
amplitudes and along the inner and outer circle contact
edges of the two plates contact areas are calculated and
shown in Figure 5.
From Figures 5(b) and (d), it is easy to find that the
maximum normal stress amplitudes max of the inner
contact edges of the two aluminum plates locate at about
90 region near the hole, and the position of max gradually shifts to the region whose angle is less than 90 and
more than 90 as fatigue stress increases, which demonJAMP

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52
50

ET AL.
00

(f=0.35)
(f=0.5)
(f=0.7)

20
90

(f=0.35)
(f=0.5)
(f=0.7)

00
00

60

00

30

00
0
20

40

60

80

60
90

100

120

140

160

180

200

angle degree

00
0
0

20

00

20

00

50

00

MPa

MPa

30

40

60

80

20

120

140

(b)

180

200

(f 0.35)
(f=0.5)
(f=0.7)

00
00

90

160

angle degree

(a)

(
)
(f=0.5)
(f=0.7)

50

100

00

60

00

30
00

0
20

60
90

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

angle degree

00
0
0
00

20

00

50

00

20

MPa

MPa

30

40

60

(c)

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

angle degree

(d)

Figure 5. The distributions of stress amplitude in the inner and outer circle contact edges of the aluminum plates under different fatigue stress conditions; (a) The outer circle contact edges of the aluminum plate Is upper surface; (b) The inner circle contact edges of the aluminum plate Is upper surface; (c) The outer circle contact edges of the aluminum plate IIs upper
surface; (d) The inner circle contact edges of the aluminum plate IIs upper surface.

strates that when the traditional fatigue plays major role


for the failure of the specimen, increasing of fatigue
stress would accelerate the initiation of the corresponding
fatigue cracks at the inner contact edge and shift the initiation position far away from its original 90 region.
For the maximum shear stress amplitude max, we can
observe from Figures 5(a) and (c) that max appear at
about 45 region and 135 region, respectively and they
both significantly increase with the fatigue stress.
Meanwhile, the position of max can be seen to shift to
the region whose angle is less than 45 and the region
whose angle is greater than 135 with the fatigue stress. It
indicates that increasing of fatigue stress would strengthen the role of the fretting fatigue damage at the outer
contact edges, causing the cracks tend to initiate at 45
region and 135 region at outer contact edges and increase the tends to shift the crack initiation positions toward the region whose angle is less than 45 or larger
than 135.
Open Access

5. Discussions
The fretting fatigue contact geometry of a riveted two
aluminum specimen was studied. The distributions of
normal stress amplitude and shear stress amplitude in the
inner and outer circle contact edges of the aluminum
plates under different friction coefficient and fatigue load
conditions are elastically analyzed using the finite element method and the following conclusions are obtained.
1) In the light of traditional fatigue damage without
fretting damage, the main factor influencing fatigue is
hoop normal stress amplitude max, the dangerous point
of traditional crack initiation is just the place where hoop
normal stress amplitude max reached the maximum.
2) The aluminum plate Is fatigue crack initiation angle shifts from 900 to 450 with the increasing of friction
coefficient and fatigue load, the aluminum plate IIs fatigue crack initiation angle shifts from 900 to 1350 with
the increasing of friction coefficient and fatigue load.
The increasing of friction coefficient and fatigue load, on
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the one hand, would weaken the role of traditional fatigue damage on the aluminum plates and delay the corresponding crack initiation at the 90 region near the hole;
and on the other hand, would strengthen the role of fretting fatigue damage and lead to the transition of the crack
initiation positions from 90 point at the inner edge to 45
point at the outer edge for plate I and from 90 point at
the inner edge to 135 point at the outer edge for plate II.
3) Either traditional fatigue or fretting fatigue has been
accelerated with the increasing of fatigue loads, the increasing of fatigue stress would increase the tends to shift
the initiation position far away from its original 90 region at the inner contact edge and shift the crack initiation positions toward the region whose angle is less than
45 or larger than 135 at the outer contact edge.

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