An all-in-one numerical methodology for fretting wear and fatigue life assessment

Many mechanical components such as, bearing housings, flexible couplings and spines or orthopedic devices are simultaneously subjected to a fretting wear and fatigue damage. For this reason, the combined study on a single model of wear, crack initiation and propagation is of great interest. This paper presents an all-in-one 2D cylinder on flat numerical model for life assessment on coupled fretting wear and fatigue phenomena. In the literature, two stages are usually distinguished: crack nucleation and its subsequent growth. The method combines the Archard wear model, a critical-plane implementation of the Smith-Watson- Topper (SWT) multiaxial fatigue criterion coupled with the Miner-Palmgren accumulation damage rule for crack initiation prediction. Then, the Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM) via eXtended Finite Element Method (X-FEM) embedded into the commercial finite element code Abaqus FEA has been employed to determine the crack propagation stage. Therefore, the sum of the two stages gives a total life prediction. Finally, the numerical model was validated with experimental data reported in the literature and a good agreement was obtained

On the Use of the Theory of Critical Distances with Mesh Control for Fretting Fatigue Lifetime Assessment

This work analyses the viability of the theory of critical distances (TCD) using mesh control for fretting fatigue lifetime assessment. More than seven hundred sets of simulations were performed by taking seventy different experimental tests reported previously in the literature. The outcome of the present study suggests that the TCD mesh control method can be extended to fretting fatigue problems by the reasonable assumption of setting the right element size proportional to critical distance. In this study, a significant computational time reduction of up to 97% was obtained. Thus, this study provides a simple method to design complex 3D industrial components subjected to fretting fatigue phenomena using finite element analysis efficiently without requiring complex remeshing techniques

The minimum shear stress range criterion and its application to crack orientation prediction in incomplete contact fretting problems

[EN] A proper prediction of crack paths is required when assessing accurately the fatigue crack propagation life. Recently, some authors have pointed out that the criterion of minimum shear stress range leads to inconsistent results when predicting fretting crack paths under incomplete contacts. In this paper, different fretting experiments with cylinder-to-flat contact found in the literature are reviewed, and the corresponding crack path prediction using the extended finite element method and the minimum shear stress range crack orientation criterion is performed. Results show the applicability of the criterion to predict the crack orientation during stage II in incomplete contact fretting problems.The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support given by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the FEDER program through the project DPI2017-89197-C2-1-R, DPI2017-89197-C2-2-R and DPI2014-56137-C2-2-R and the FPI subprogram associated to the project with the reference BES-2015-072070. The support of the Generalitat Valenciana, Programme PROMETEO 2016/007, is also acknowledged. The financial support given by the Eusko Jaurlaritza under "Programa de apoyo a la investigacion colaborativa en areas estrategicas" (Project MEDECA: Ref. KK-2017/00053, and MEDECA2: Ref. KK-2018/00013) programs is also acknowledged.Infante, D.; Llavori, I.; Zabala, A.; Giner Maravilla, E. (2019). The minimum shear stress range criterion and its application to crack orientation prediction in incomplete contact fretting problems. International Journal of Fatigue. 129:1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2019.105223S1912

Surface integrity of additive manufacturing parts: a comparison between optical topography measuring techniques

Additive Manufacturing (AM) presents significant industry-specific advantages allowing the creation of complex geometries and internal features that cannot be produced using conventional manufacturing processes. However, a current limitation of AM is the degraded dimensional control and surface integrity of specific surfaces. The parts are constructed through layer-by-layer approach, each layer presenting a characteristic ‘fingerprint’. The functional performance of the final part is influenced by the morphology of the outer surface as well as by the surface quality introduced at intermediate layers. Surface texture metrology therefore can play an enabling role in AM-related manufacture and research. The use of optical topography measurement instrumentation allows for a high level of detail in the acquisition of topographic information. Some of the most commonly used optical measuring instruments are Vertical Scanning Interferometry (CSI), Imaging Confocal Microscopy (CONF), and Focus Variation (FV), each one has benefits and drawbacks in terms of acquisition time and measurement resolution. AM surfaces overall present complex topographical features, requiring the acquisition of large surface areas and large z-scans which considerably increases the acquisition time. Speed is a key factor in industrial practice, and time optimization is required for quality control and surface analysis before down-stream processes. This paper reports on the measurement and characterisation of the surface texture of metal powder bed fusion AM parts. All measurements were performed in the same SENSOFAR S-NEOX instrument using the commonly used optical technologies (CSI, CONF, and FV) and the latest step in confocal measurement technology called Continuous Confocal (C-CONF). The resolution and acquisition time of each technique is analysed in order to check the suitability of each method to characterize and describe the AM surface microstructures in a time-efficient way

Critical analysis of the suitability of crack propagation direction criteria for 2D cylindrical plain fretting contact

[EN] In this work the suitability of the criterion of maximum effective amplitude of the normal stress (Delta sigma(n,eff))(max) and the criterion of minimum shear stress range (Delta tau)(min) for 2D cylindrical plain fretting contact condition has been analysed. The numerical analysis has been performed by means of the extended finite element method, which takes into account the contact between crack faces during the closing part, and the results have been compared with experiments reported in the literature. Results show that overall the (Delta tau)(min) criterion predominates in intermediate stage, while the (Delta sigma(n,eff))(max) shows less deviation in the final stage. However, the predicted crack path by the latter criterion shifts toward the outer side, which do not correlate with the experimental results reported in the literature. Additional studies should investigate the variables that are affecting this change in the behaviour along the crack in order to set a criteria that is able to predict the plain fretting condition crack paths accurately.This work was financially supported by the the Basque Government under the "Proyectos de Investigacion Basica y/o Aplicada" (Project NUSIMCO: Ref. PI2013-23), the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (grant number DPI2017-89197-C22-R) and the Generalitat Valenciana (Programme PROMETEO 2016/007). Furthermore, the authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support given by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the FEDER program through the project DPI2014-56137-C2-2-R and the FPI subprogram associated to the project with the reference BES-2015-072070.Llavori, I.; Giner Maravilla, E.; Zabala, A.; Infante, D.; Aginagalde, A.; Rodríguez-Flórez, N.; Gómez, X. (2019). Critical analysis of the suitability of crack propagation direction criteria for 2D cylindrical plain fretting contact. Engineering Fracture Mechanics. 214:534-543. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfracmech.2019.04.035S53454321

Modal analysis of novel coronavirus (SARS COV-2) using finite element methodology

Many new engineering and scientific innovations have been proposed to date to passivate the novel coronavirus (SARS CoV-2), with the aim of curing the related disease that is now recognised as COVID-19. Currently, vaccine development remains the most reliable solution available. Efforts to provide solutions as alternatives to vaccinations are growing and include established control of behaviours such as self-isolation, social distancing, employing facial masks and use of antimicrobial surfaces. The work here proposes a novel engineering method employing the concept of resonant frequencies to denature SARS CoV-2. Specifically, “modal analysis” is used to computationally analyse the Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors i.e. frequencies and mode shapes to denature COVID-19. An average virion dimension of 63 nm with spike proteins number 6, 7 and 8 were examined, which revealed a natural frequency of a single virus in the range of 88–125 MHz. The information derived about the natural frequency of the virus through this study will open newer ways to exploit medical solutions to combat future pandemics

Bactericidal Surfaces: An Emerging 21st Century Ultra-Precision Manufacturing and Materials Puzzle

Progress made by materials scientists in recent years has greatly helped the field of ultra-precision manufacturing. Ranging from healthcare to electronics components, phenomena such as twinning, dislocation nucleation, and high-pressure phase transformation have helped to exploit plasticity across a wide range of metallic and semiconductor materials. One current problem at the forefront of the healthcare sector that can benefit from these advances is that of bacterial infections in implanted prosthetic devices. The treatment of implant infections is often complicated by the growth of bacterial biofilms on implant surfaces, which form a barrier that effectively protects the infecting organisms from host immune defenses and exogenous antibiotics. Further surgery is usually required to disrupt the biofilm, or to remove the implant altogether to permit antibiotics to clear the infection, incurring considerable cost and healthcare burdens. In this review, we focus on elucidating aspects of bactericidal surfaces inspired by the biological world to inform the design of implant surface treatments that will suppress bacterial colonization. Alongside manufacturing and materials related challenges, the review identifies the most promising natural bactericidal surfaces and provides representative models of their structure, highlighting the importance of the critical slope presented by these surfaces. The scalable production of these complex hierarchical structures on freeform metallic implant surfaces has remained a scientific challenge to date and, as identified by this review, is one of the many 21st-century puzzles to be addressed by the field of applied physics

Reuse of terminological resources for efficient ontological engineering in Life Sciences

This paper is intended to explore how to use terminological resources for ontology engineering. Nowadays there are several biomedical ontologies describing overlapping domains, but there is not a clear correspondence between the concepts that are supposed to be equivalent or just similar. These resources are quite precious but their integration and further development are expensive. Terminologies may support the ontological development in several stages of the lifecycle of the ontology; e.g. ontology integration. In this paper we investigate the use of terminological resources during the ontology lifecycle. We claim that the proper creation and use of a shared thesaurus is a cornerstone for the successful application of the Semantic Web technology within life sciences. Moreover, we have applied our approach to a real scenario, the Health-e-Child (HeC) project, and we have evaluated the impact of filtering and re-organizing several resources. As a result, we have created a reference thesaurus for this project, named HeCTh

Modal analysis of novel coronavirus (SARS COV-2) using finite element methodology

Many new engineering and scientific innovations have been proposed to date to passivate the novel coronavirus (SARS CoV-2), with the aim of curing the related disease that is now recognised as COVID-19. Currently, vaccine development remains the most reliable solution available. Efforts to provide solutions as alternatives to vaccinations are growing and include established control of behaviours such as self-isolation, social distancing, employing facial masks and use of antimicrobial surfaces. The work here proposes a novel engineering method employing the concept of resonant frequencies to denature SARS CoV-2. Specifically, "modal analysis" is used to computationally analyse the Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors i.e. frequencies and mode shapes to denature COVID-19. An average virion dimension of 63 nm with spike proteins number 6, 7 and 8 were examined, which revealed a natural frequency of a single virus in the range of 88 to 125 MHz. The information derived about the natural frequency of the virus through this study will open newer ways to exploit medical solutions to combat future pandemics