Estimation of Minimum Sonic Fatigue Life of Steel Beam and Plate Structures
Structures such as those of engine test cells or wind tunnels may be exposed to intense sound for extended periods and should be designed to ensure they are not prone to premature fatigue failure. This paper presents an approach to determining a lower bound to the fatigue life of structural components exposed to complex sound fields, enabling relatively simple evaluation of candidate structural designs. The presented approach is based on established characterizations of the fatigue behaviors of typical steels and relies on classical analytical results that relate the greatest stresses induced in simple structural elements to oscillatory pressure distributions acting on these elements. Practical application of this approach is discussed, as well as the limitations of the approach.Abstract
Contributor Notes
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Eric Ungar has worked in the areas of structural dynamics and stress analysis since he received his mechanical engineering degree in 1951 from Washington University. After participating in atomic weapons work at Sandia Corp., he served on the faculty of New York University and received the Doctor of Engineering Science degree from NYU in 1957.
He engaged in research and consulting at NYU; at Bolt, Beranek, and Newman, Inc.; and at Acentech, Inc., where he at present is Chief Engineering Scientist. Having published widely and lectured on four continents, he is a Life Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) and of the Institute of Noise Control Engineering (INCE), and an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). His awards include Gold Medals from ASME and ASA.