Ductile crack initiation behavior in steels with compressive prestrain

It is well known that compressive prestrain reduces ductility in steels. On the other hand, it has also been found that high stress triaxiality reduces equivalent plastic strain at the onset of ductile fracture. In this research, plate specimens and notched bar specimens, which were prestrained in compression with bending, were used in reversed bending tests, and the effect of compressive prestrain on ductile crack initiation in steels was investigated. It was found that small ductile cracks occurred from the microscopic wrinkles which were formed on the concave surface with compressive prestrain. The critical relationship between stress triaxiality and equivalent plastic strain at ductile crack initiation was investigated by finite-element analysis. It was found that ductile crack initiation in steels with compressive prestrain can be estimated qualitatively by the relationship between stress triaxiality and equivalent plastic strain.     

Elastic response characteristics of a very large floating structure in waves moored inside a reef

 This article describes the results of hydraulic model tests of the elastic response of a very large floating structure (VLFS) moored inside a reef in an isolated island. The distributions of strains and vertical displacements due to the elastic response of the VLFS were measured. The response characteristics were strongly affected by deformed nonlinear waves inside the reef. A two-step analytical method to compute the elastic response of a VLFS is proposed, and its validity is verified using the results of the hydraulic model tests. Received: May 2, 2002 / Accepted: March 17, 2003 RID="*" ID="*" Address correspondence to: S. Shiraishi (shiraishi@pari.go.jp) Acknowledgment. This study was supported by the Program for Promotions of Fundamental Transport Technology Research from the Corporation for Advanced Transport and Technology (CATT).