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End of November 2005 strong south-west wind and heavy snowfall were predominant in the region Münsterland, north-western part of Germany. This led to accretion of a considerable quantity of wet snow to overhead electrical lines in form of snow rolls on the conductors. Eighty-two transmission towers failed catastrophically, most of them by buckling, however some by brittle fracture. As a consequence nearly 250,000 people have been cut off from electrical power supply for several days with major media attention.
This paper describes the forensic analysis in order to investigate the failure cause. Therefore extensive materials investigations, mechanical testing of original components and specimens thereof, estimations for the real wind and snow loads and their combinations, structural analyses as well as detailed evaluations on the basis of previous investigations, literature and regulations were conducted. It was revealed that some of the examined components were manufactured from Thomas steel which was partially in embrittled condition. The investigated towers fulfilled the design codes valid at the time of erection. However the present line loads of the wet snow rolls on the conductors exceeded by far the ones given in the design codes valid at that time.
The load case leading to failure was reconstructed by the derived positions of loads mainly caused by unequal and asymmetric distribution of snow rolls on left and right electrical system. The loads and corresponding stresses acting on the structure before failure were estimated. By comparison with the fracture forces from mechanical testing of original members of the collapsed tower the component that primarily failed was localised. The primary fracture occurred on a diagonal member under tension made of Thomas steel which was weakened by embrittlement. The failure cause was a combination of heavy weather conditions (storm, approx. 0 °C and wet snowfall leading to heavy snow rolls on conductors), asymmetric loading conditions and the usage of Thomas steel which was partially embrittled. Finally, recommendations for avoiding future failures are given.
Am 9. Juli 2008 entgleiste ein Hochgeschwindigkeits-Triebzug der Baureihe 403, ICE3, bei der Ausfahrt aus dem Kölner Hauptbahnhof. Ursache dafür war der Schwingbruch einer Radsatzwelle. Im Auftrag der Staatsanwaltschaft Köln untersuchte die BAM die Schadensteile, insbesondere die gebrochene Treibradsatz-Hohlwelle.
Zunächst wurden das Drehgestell, der Antriebsstrang, die Räder, die Bremsen und die gebrochene Radsatzwelle visuell untersucht und deren Zustand dokumentiert.
Anschließend erfolgte die zerstörungsfreie Prüfung der beiden Bruchstücke der Hohlwelle mit teilmechanisierter Ultraschall-Handprüfung.
Vor der Zerlegung der Radsatzwelle wurden ausgewählte Maße kontrolliert und die Oberfläche eingehend untersucht. Nach der Probenahme und Präparation wurden die relevanten spezifizierten Eigenschaften des Wellenwerkstoffs überprüft.
Mittels Bruchflächenanalyse konnte die Startstelle des Schwingrisses lokalisiert, aufgrund der starken Sekundärschäden auf der Bruchfläche und an den Bruchkanten jedoch nicht direkt ausgewertet werden. Durch die Kombination von Mikro-Computertomographie und Ultraschall-Tauchtechnik wurden u. a. nahe der Schwingriss-Startstelle Inhomogenitäten erkannt, die durch metallographische Zielpräparation als nichtmetallische Einschlüsse identifiziert wurden. Die Größe dieser Einschlüsse ist gemäß gefordertem Reinheitsgrad unzulässig. Vergleichbare Einschlüsse in diesem hochbeanspruchten Bereich der Radsatzwelle haben vermutlich den Schwingriss initiiert.
In July 2008 an ICE3 high speed train rated for 330 km/h service speed derailed during departure from Cologne, Central Station, Germany, due to fatigue failure of one of the driving axles. The train was emergency stopped immediately and, due to low travel speed at this point, no serious injuries occurred to passengers. Referring to public interest, the public attorneys office solicited the German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) for the analysis of the root cause.
No deviations from specification were found in the geometries of the basic parts of the bogie or the wheelset assembly. Inspection of the axle fragments using standard acoustic non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques revealed no additional cracks and no indications of oversized discontinuities. Metallographic and chemical inspection of the axle material and its microstructure revealed all parameters to be acceptable except for an elevated impurity level.
The fracture surfaces of the axle fragments were heavily damaged due to some continued travel after final breakage on the high speed line before Cologne Central Station. Extensive visual inspection of the remaining beachmarks was carried out to find the origin of the fatigue crack. The region of the crack origin was located near the axle surface but could not be analysed in detail due to secondary damage. Fatigue was identified as the mechanism of crack growth until final fracture, but the reasons for crack initiation initially remained unclear.
Neither standard NDT techniques nor metallography according to the relevant axle specifications were able to identify inclusions in the material that could have served as crack initiation sites. However, discontinuities were detected near the crack origin in micro computer tomography and ultrasonic immersion testing. Subsequent metallographic sample preparation was targeted to specific areas based on the location coordinates of the flaws identified by these NDT techniques. These revealed non-metallic inclusions that were much larger than admissible for the relevant specifications. It is likely that the fatigue crack in the highly loaded axle volume initiated at those non-metallic inclusions.
Unexpected wind-induced vibrations of the hangers have caused an early fatigue crack on specific steel components and joints of a railway bridge over the Elbe River at Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Germany. During regular periodic inspection a fatigue crack of approximately 240 mm length was found near a butt weld of the longest hanger. The hanger was immediately secured by welded butt straps across the crack. Based on experimental investigations of hanger vibrations additional bracings were added between the hangers to avoid wind-induced vibrations. The weld heat influence zone which was affected by high cyclic stresses was replaced by new material.
Nevertheless it was impossible to determine sufficient remaining service life for those remaining bridge components that were exposed to extreme high real load cycles. The grinding of the affected steel surfaces was the key element of the remedial actions. Furthermore, additional fracture mechanic calculations were carried out in order to assess the remaining service life of the welded joints. In this respect, the calculation approach used by Deutsche Bahn AG was compared to further procedures from the mechanical engineering field. These investigations showed that the studied, repaired components have both, bearing and fatigue capacities within the validity of standards.