TY - JOUR
T1 - Strain imaging of corroded steel fasteners using neutron transmission imaging
AU - Kanarachos, Stratis
AU - Ramadhan, Ranggi S.
AU - Kockelmann, Winfried
AU - Venetsanos, Demetrios
AU - Tremsin, Anton S.
AU - Fitzpatrick, Michael E.
N1 - Funding Information:
The experiment was carried out at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source of the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB1920620. M. E. Fitzpatrick is grateful for funding from the Lloyd's Register Foundation, a charitable foundation helping to protect life and property by supporting engineering-related education, public engagement and the application of research. The accelerated corrosion procedure was carried out by Mr James Jarvis, Faculty of Engineering, Environment and Computing, Coventry University, UK.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2022/11/15
Y1 - 2022/11/15
N2 - Failures in bolted structural connections have caused in the past the collapse of various steel structures exposed to weather conditions, including wind turbine towers, oil and gas platforms, and bridges. Corrosion and the resulting loss of preloaded tension in the bolted connection were the root cause of such catastrophic failures in many cases. However, it is still not fully understood how strain is re-distributed in corroded bolted connections, nor how different factors influence the redistribution. Measuring non-destructively the strain inside the assembly has been the main obstacle. To this end, in this paper, we employed energy-resolved neutron transmission imaging and we present strain maps in corroded bolted connections for the first time. We examined and compared the strain distribution measurements in corroded and non-corroded assemblies for different bolt-tightening techniques. The specimens under investigation were artificially corroded without introducing any additional mechanical loads. The resulting strain maps illustrate how strain is re-distributed and provide insight into the influence of the bolt-tightening method.
AB - Failures in bolted structural connections have caused in the past the collapse of various steel structures exposed to weather conditions, including wind turbine towers, oil and gas platforms, and bridges. Corrosion and the resulting loss of preloaded tension in the bolted connection were the root cause of such catastrophic failures in many cases. However, it is still not fully understood how strain is re-distributed in corroded bolted connections, nor how different factors influence the redistribution. Measuring non-destructively the strain inside the assembly has been the main obstacle. To this end, in this paper, we employed energy-resolved neutron transmission imaging and we present strain maps in corroded bolted connections for the first time. We examined and compared the strain distribution measurements in corroded and non-corroded assemblies for different bolt-tightening techniques. The specimens under investigation were artificially corroded without introducing any additional mechanical loads. The resulting strain maps illustrate how strain is re-distributed and provide insight into the influence of the bolt-tightening method.
KW - Bragg edge analysis
KW - Corroded bolt connections
KW - Neutron transmission imaging
KW - Non-destructive testing
KW - Strain distribution
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85138484143&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.measurement.2022.111904
DO - 10.1016/j.measurement.2022.111904
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85138484143
VL - 203
JO - Measurement
JF - Measurement
SN - 1536-6367
M1 - 111904
ER -