Abstract

A numerical approach is proposed in this paper for safety assessment of mechanical structures with age-related degradation. Deterioration occurs in mechanical structures due to various environmental attacks and operation conditions which leads to changes in structural performance and structural resistance capacity. By combining techniques such as degradation evaluation methods, damage mechanics, and the finite element method, the proposed numerical method can be used to analyse the responses and damages of mechanical structures with age-related degradation. Ageing degradation effects can be taken into account by introducing degradation factor into formulations of finite element method and damage mechanics. The numerical results for a notched bar and a plate with a central hole are provided to validate the proposed numerical method.

Keywords

mechanical structures, ageing, age-related degradation, finite element method, damage mechanics, numerical analysis

Authors