Computational Methods in Engineering

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In welded tubular joints, when the fatigue crack depth is less than 20% of chord wall thickness, the crack growing process is highly affected by weld geometry. Hence, T-butt solution and weld magnification factor (Mk) are applicable tools for evaluating the crack growth rate in this domain. In this research, the capability of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) for estimating the Mk of weld toe cracks in T-butt joints is investigated. Four Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) networks are designed and trained to predict the Mk in deepest point and ends of weld toe cracks under membrane and bending stresses. Training and testing data of networks are extracted from a reputable resource on finite element modeling. Comparison of the results obtained and those from the most recently published equations shows that using ANN seems to be very beneficial in this field

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Experiments have frequently shown that phase separation in lithium-ion battery electrodes could lead to the formation of mechanical defects, hence causing capacity fading. The purpose of the present work has been to examine stress intensity factors for pre-existing surface cracks in spherical electrode particles during electrochemical deintercalation cycling using both analytical and numerical methods. To this end, we make use of a phase field model to examine the time-dependent evolution of the concentration and stress profiles in a phase separating spherical electrode particles. By using a geometrical approximation scheme proposed in the literature, stress intensity factors at the deepest point of the pre-existing surface cracks of semi-elliptical geometry are calculated with the aid of the well-established weight function method of fracture mechanics. By taking advantage of a sharp-interphase core-shell model, an analytical solution for the maximum stress intensity factors arising at the deepest point of the surface cracks during a complete deintercalation half-cycle is also developed. Numerical results for evolution of the concentration profile and the distribution of the hoop stresses in the particle are presented; further, the stress intensity factors found numerically based on the phase field model are compared with those predicted by the analytical core-shell model. The results of the numerical model suggest that the maximum stress intensity factor could significantly vary with changes in the surface flux, increasing potentially by a factor of two within the range of parameters considered here, when the concentration difference between the two phases is decreased.

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Peridynamics is a nonlocal version of the continuum mechanics, in which partial differential equations are replaced by integro-differential ones. Due to not using spatial derivatives of the field variables, it can be applied to problems with discontinuities. In the primary studies, peridynamics has been used to simulate crack propagation in brittle materials. With proving the capabilities of peridynamics, the idea of using this theory to simulate crack propagation in quasi-brittle materials and plastic behavior has been proposed. To this end, formulations and models based on peridynamics have been developed. Meanwhile, the high computational cost of peridynamic methods is the main disadvantage of this theory. With the development of peridynamic methods and introduction of hybrid methods based on peridynamics and local theories, the computational cost of peridynamic methods has been reduced to a large extent. This paper introduces peridynamics and the models based on it. To this end, we first review peridynamics, its formulations, and the methods based on it. Then we discuss the modeling of quasi-brittle materials, simulation of plastic behavior and employing the differential operators in this theory.