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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.
Investigations on the breakdown of a heat recovery steam generator during the initial operation run
(2014)
Several years ago, in 2003, an industrial heat recovery steam generator in charge of generating process steam in a petrochemical refinery was installed and prepared for initial operation. The steam generator enclosed an evaporator section and a superheater section consisting mainly of bundles of tubes with the longest up to several metres in length. During initial operation test runs severe leakages in the evaporator and superheater modules became noticeable. The test runs were stopped and after disassembly, through-wall cracks in several tube bends were found. BAM was commissioned to carry out the investigations in order to find out the reasons for the failure of the tubes. During on-site inspection a number of relevant damaged components and parts were selected and taken away to the laboratories for detailed inspection. Planned analyses were to comprise metallographic as well as fractographic investigations, mechanical fatigue testing and experimental as well as finite element vibration analyses on specimens and components. Soon, the fracture mechanism was found to be mechanical fatigue due to the fact that the examined fracture surfaces showed the very characteristic beachmarks and colouring patterns. To identify the particular loading and time at which crack initiation and crack propagation took place, experimental and numerical vibration analyses of specific tubes as well as mechanical fatigue tests on tube bends were carried out. Thus it was possible to identify the eigenfrequencies of individual tubes, to estimate the dynamic response as well as the nominal stresses and, hence, experimentally characterise the in-service fatigue strength of the components. Mechanical and thermal comparative tests on tube bends were performed simulating the conditions during the initial test run in order to get crack surfaces comparable to that of the originally damaged components. Thereby it became obvious that the fatigue cracks were initiated by vibrations the tube bundles were exposed to during rail transport from the manufacturers site to the place of installation. Based on these results, the damaged components could be repaired or exchanged without modification of the construction, but the rules relating packaging and securing for shipping had to be revised.
The 100th anniversary of the death of Adolf Martens will be commemorated on July 24th, 2014. He is eponymously remembered today through the term martensite, which was first used by Floris Osmond as a name for the metastable phase that results from rapid quenching of carbon steels. Born in 1850 near to Hagenow in the region Mecklenburg, Germany, Martens was one of the pioneers of materials engineering in 19th century Europe.
Martens began his career working for the Prussian Eastern Railway before joining the Royal Industrial Academy in Berlin in 1880. In 1884, he was appointed director of the Royal Mechanical Experimental Station, a small institution associated to the academy. Failure analysis was continuously practiced at this institution, which became later the nucleus of the German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), for the 110 years since. The history of Martens will be dealt with in an in-depth article in this special issue.
Since the 19th century, failure analysis techniques have been refined, and new methods of chemical analysis and non-destructive testing have been developed; however, the basic approach to failure analysis has not changed much since Martens' days. The basic tenets of failure analysis remain things like on-site inspection, extensive visual 'non-destructive' inspection, developing an understanding of the background story, performing materials testing, and 'connecting the dots.' Martens introduced and developed experimental techniques like macro photography, fractography, metallography, hardness measurements, and mechanical testing. Modern failure analysts continue adding even more techniques to this list, leading to a more interdisciplinary approach which many would say is the only way to find the root causes of complex failure events.
The present special issue of EFA presents an overview of more than 100 years of failure analysis at BAM and its predecessors, closing the circle from the beginnings of modern failure analysis done by Martens himself in the 1890s to its present-day application.
This special issue starts with an excursion back to Martens' work and innovations and presents a newly translated original manuscript of Martens from 1890. Whereas some papers of Martens and his co-workers are well documented, only little can be found about failure analysis in the period from 1914 to the 1950s. Most documents of this period have not survived until today. Beginning in the 1960s more and more significant works are preserved, which were using the interdisciplinary approach of Martens. Since the beginning of the digital age in the 1980s almost all text documents are accessible, whereas digital images were stored since the 1990s. Since then the problem is no longer accessibility but copyright issues that prevent many interesting case studies from being published. Maybe the next generation of failure scientists can reveal some of them later on.
Aufbau einer Wissensbasis zu Bruchflächen und Gefüge in der fraktographischen online-Datenbank
(2016)
In einer fraktographischen online-Datenbank werden Informationen zum Bruchverhalten von technischen Werkstoffen zusammengetragen. Primäres Ziel ist die kontrollierte Erzeugung von Brüchen und deren anschließende Analyse, aber auch Beispiele aus Schadensfällen werden eingestellt. Die makroskopischen und mikroskopischen Merkmale von Bruchflächen, die Art der Beanspruchung und die dazugehörigen Werkstoffgefüge werden in Datensätzen zusammengefasst, die der interessierten Fachöffentlichkeit zu Verfügung stehen.
Oft sind von außen nicht sichtbare „Ungänzen“ im Innern die Ursache für das Versagen von Bauteilen. In manchen Fällen genügt eine herkömmliche metallographische Präparation, um der Schadensursache auf die Spur zu kommen. In anderen Fällen aber sind die Ungänzen zu klein oder ihre Lage zu ungewiss, um sie mit zufälligen Schnitten zu treffen. Zudem würde man durch Fehlversuche das Bauteil zu stark schädigen und so wertvolle Spuren verlieren sowie die weitere Untersuchbarkeit einschränken. In solchen Fällen ist es im wahrsten Sinn des Wortes zielführend, die Ungänzen mit Hilfe eines räumlich abbildenden ZfP-Verfahrens zu lokalisieren und dann mit den erhaltenen Koordinaten eine metallographische Zielpräparation präzise durchzuführen. Als Methoden kommen z.B. Mikro-Computer-Tomographie (µCT) und Tauch-Ultraschall in Frage. Bauteile können kleine elektronische Komponenten sein, aber auch große Bauteile wie Wellen aus Fahrzeugen oder Anlagen.
This third part of the review on defects as root cause of fatigue failure addresses cavities (pores, micro-shrinkages, unmelted regions), defective microstructures and microcracks as material defects and defects due to local damage during manufacturing, service and maintenance such as dents, scratches and localized corrosion. In addition, damage due to contact fatigue and the effect of surface roughness are discussed in the context of fatigue failure. Also addressed is the competition between different kinds of defects in controlling the initiation and early growth of fatigue cracks.
According to the definition of the ASM handbook [1,3], a defect is "an imperfection. that can be shown to cause failure by a quantitative analysis and that would not have occurred in the absence of the imperfection". The topic of the present three-part review is a discussion of defects which can cause failure in cyclically loaded structures. The features discussed comprise material defects such as non-metallic inclusions, pores or micro-shrinkages, etc. and geometric defects such as surface roughness and secondary notches which have their origin in manufacturing, and defects such as surface damage due to scratches, impact events or contact fatigue as well as corrosion pits which arise in service. In this first part, the discussion is prefaced by an introduction to basic aspects which are essential for a deeper understanding of the characteristics and mechanisms how the defects influence fatigue crack initiation and propagation. These include the life cycle of a fatigue crack from initiation up to fracture, crack arrest, multiple crack initiation and coalescence, and the material and geometrical properties affecting these.
Defects as a root cause of fatigue failure of metallic components. II: Non-metallic inclusions
(2019)
This second part of the review on defects as root cause of fatigue failure comprises the origin, the nature and the effects of non-metallic inclusions. Topics addressed are the different kinds of inclusions formed during the manufacturing process, various types of mis-match causing local stresses and, as a consequence, fatigue crack initiation, and effects of characteristics such as size, morphology, localization, spatial distribution and orientation of the defects on the fatigue behavior. Methods for inclusion counting and sizing are discussed along with statistical aspects necessary to be considered when evaluating structural components.
Komponenten von Fahrrädern werden im Betrieb vorwiegend schwingend beansprucht. Typische Werkstoffe sind Stahl, Aluminiumlegierungen, Messing, CFK und thermoplastische Kunststoffe. Da es sich, unabhängig von der Preiskategorie, um konstruktiven Leichtbau handelt, werden einige Bauteile betriebsfest mehr oder weniger weit oberhalb der Dauerfestigkeit ausgelegt. Die im normalen Betrieb auftretenden Schäden sind daher weit überwiegend Schwingbrüche. Andere Schadensmechanismen wie z.B. Korrosion spielen quantitativ eine untergeordnete Rolle. Schwingbrüche treten nach einer Periode unbemerkten Risswachstums oft ohne Vorwarnung und ohne makroskopische Verformung auf. Im Falle von sicherheitsrelevanten Komponenten wie Rahmen, Gabeln, Lenkern, Sattelstützen, Kurbelarmen oder Pedalen kann dies zu erheblichen Personenschäden führen, die den Wert des ursächlichen Bauteilschadens weit überschreiten.
Über einen langjährigen Zeitraum wurden gebrochene Komponenten aus dem Alltag und aus Gerichtsverfahren analysiert. Das Hauptaugenmerk lag hierbei auf der fraktographischen Analyse, teilweise wurden die zu Grunde liegenden Schadensursachen ermittelt. Einflussfaktoren sind beispielsweise konstruktive Kerben an ungünstigen Stellen, aber auch Werkstoffwahl und Fertigungsqualität spielen eine Rolle. In den meisten Fällen wurde jedoch die konstruktive Lebensdauer überschritten. Diese wird praktisch nie mitgeteilt, und eine wiederkehrende Prüfung sicherheitsrelevanter Bauteile findet nicht statt.
Im Sinne der Vermeidung von Schäden und Unfällen könnte darauf hingewirkt werden, für sicherheitsrelevante Komponenten Lebensdauern besser abzuschätzen und von der Laufleistung abhängige Sichtprüfungen zu empfehlen.
Komponenten von Fahrrädern werden im Betrieb vorwiegend schwingend beansprucht. Typische Werkstoffe sind Stahl, Aluminiumlegierungen, Messing, CFK und thermoplastische Kunststoffe. Da es sich, unabhängig von der Preiskategorie, um konstruktiven Leichtbau handelt, werden einige Bauteile betriebsfest mehr oder weniger weit oberhalb der Dauerfestigkeit ausgelegt. Die im normalen Betrieb auftretenden Schäden sind daher weit überwiegend Schwingbrüche. Andere Schadensmechanismen wie z.B. Korrosion spielen quantitativ eine untergeordnete Rolle. Schwingbrüche treten nach einer Periode unbemerkten Risswachstums oft ohne Vorwarnung und ohne makroskopische Verformung auf. Im Falle von sicherheitsrelevanten Komponenten wie Rahmen, Gabeln, Lenkern, Sattelstützen, Kurbelarmen oder Pedalen kann dies zu erheblichen Personenschäden führen, die den Wert des ursächlichen Bauteilschadens weit überschreiten.
Über einen langjährigen Zeitraum wurden gebrochene Komponenten aus dem Alltag und aus Gerichtsverfahren analysiert. Das Hauptaugenmerk lag hierbei auf der fraktographischen Analyse, teilweise wurden die zu Grunde liegenden Schadensursachen ermittelt. Einflussfaktoren sind beispielsweise konstruktive Kerben an ungünstigen Stellen, aber auch Werkstoffwahl und Fertigungsqualität spielen eine Rolle. In den meisten Fällen wurde jedoch die konstruktive Lebensdauer überschritten. Diese wird praktisch nie mitgeteilt, und eine wiederkehrende Prüfung sicherheitsrelevanter Bauteile findet nicht statt.
Im Sinne der Vermeidung von Schäden und Unfällen könnte darauf hingewirkt werden, für sicherheitsrelevante Komponenten Lebensdauern besser abzuschätzen und von der Laufleistung abhängige Sichtprüfungen zu empfehlen.