A study of fatigue crack propagation at a web stiffener on a longitudinal stiffener

Predicting fatigue crack growth after its detection during in-service inspection is necessary to prevent a loss of serviceability, such as the oil and/or water tightness of critical compartments. This paper focuses on the most typical fatigue cracks that start at the weld joint between a flat bar stiffener on a transverse web frame and the flange of a longitudinal stiffener on a bottom plate or inner bottom plate. An experiment is carried out to observe the fatigue crack propagation for two kinds of flat bars at the abovementioned connection. The experimental results, especially the surface crack growth on the flange (which dominates during the total fatigue life of the longitudinal stiffener), are compared with crack growth curves predicted using a few existing formulas. Based on the comparative study, a formula that shows the best agreement with the experiment results is selected. Weld toe magnification factors for the web stiffener are computed from the crack propagation rates measured in the experiment, and two equations for the magnification factors versus crack depth are developed for two types of web stiffeners. The selected existing formula and the proposed equations are applied to two connections at the inner bottom and side longitudinal bulkhead of an LNG carrier. The equivalent stress approach based on a long-term distribution is employed to avoid the complexity involved in dealing with the actual stress history. Using this prediction, the remaining service life until an oil or water leakage occurs at a tank boundary can be estimated when a fatigue crack at the connection is detected.     

Laboratory alignment procedure for improving reproducibility of tyre wet grip measurement

Since 2012, the Korean and EU governments have been running a tyre labelling system. All tyres sold in Korea have to carry a label that displays information of two performance criteria: rolling resistance and wet grip. The rolling resistance of the tyres determines their fuel efficiency grading, and the wet grip of the tyres determines their braking safety grading. The rolling resistance and wet grip measurements must be reproducible, so the same tests on the same tyres in different laboratories must produce the same results to ensure a fair comparison between tyres from different suppliers. In addition, a good reproducibility of testing results prevents market surveillance authorities from obtaining results different from those provided by suppliers when testing the same tyres. The laboratory alignment procedure for the rolling resistance measurements was developed and published as the EU Commission Regulation No. 1235 in 2011. However, the laboratory alignment procedure for the wet grip measurements has not yet been developed. Therefore, there are many differences in the wet grip test results among test laboratories throughout the world. The new procedure that is proposed for the wet grip measurement alignment for tyre testing laboratories can improve the reproducibility of the wet grip testing results, and five laboratory alignment tests were carried out between KATECH and five other test laboratories in the world to evaluate the results of the proposed procedure.