Publications

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Type 2 high-pressure hydrogen vessels for storage at hydrogen refueling stations are designed assuming a predefined operational pressure cycle and targeted autofrettage conditions. However, the resulting finite life depends significantly on variables associated with the autofrettage process and the pressure cycles actually realized during service, which many times are not to the full range of the design. Clear guidance for cycle counting is lacking, therefore industry often defaults to counting every repressurization as a full range pressure cycle, which is an overly conservative approach. In-service pressure cycles used to predict the growth of cracks in operational pressure vessels results in significantly longer life, since most in-service pressure cycles are only a fraction of the full design pressure range. Fatigue crack growth rates can vary widely for a given pressure range depending on the details of the residual strains imparted during the autofrettage process because of their influence on crack driving forces. Small changes in variables associated with the autofrettage process, e.g., the target autofrettage overburden pressure, can result in large changes in the residual stress profile leading to possibly degraded fatigue life. In this paper, computational simulation was used for sensitivity studies to evaluate the effect of both operating conditions and autofrettage conditions on fatigue life for Type 2 highpressure hydrogen vessels. The analysis in this paper explores these sensitivities, and the results are used to provide guidance on cycle counting. In particular, we identify the pressure cycle ranges that can be ignored over the life of the vessel as having negligible effect on fatigue life. This study also examines the sensitivity of design life to the autofrettage process and the impact on life if the targeted residual strain is not achieved during manufacturing.

High pressure hydrogen storage vessels are frequently retired upon reaching their designed number of pressure cycles, even in cases where the in-use pressure cycles are significantly less severe than the design pressure cycle. One method for extending the life of hydrogen vessels is recertification through non-destructive evaluation (NDE); however, NDE techniques are frequently evaluated with machined defects in test samples rather than fatigue cracks which occur during pressure cycling and may be more difficult to detect. In this paper, 50 mm wide ring sections (called C-rings, since they represent slightly more than half the circumference) were extracted from pressure vessels and mechanically cycled to establish fatigue cracks. Sub-millimeter starter notches were machined, via plunge electrical discharge machining (EDM), to control the location of crack initiation. Crack growth was monitored via direct current potential difference (DCPD) and backface strain gauges, both of which were shown to be good indicators for crack propagation. The C-ring geometry and fatigue crack growth were modeled to demonstrate the ability to monitor/control the crack length and area, which can be used to develop calibration samples of varying crack depth for NDE techniques. Additionally, this sample is intended to evaluate the influence of residual stresses on the sensitivity of NDE techniques, such as the design stresses in autofrettaged vessels.

Type 2 high-pressure hydrogen vessels for storage at hydrogen refueling stations are designed assuming a predefined operational pressure cycle and targeted autofrettage conditions. However, the resulting finite life depends significantly on variables associated with the autofrettage process and the pressure cycles actually realized during service, which many times are not to the full range of the design. Clear guidance for cycle counting is lacking, therefore industry often defaults to counting every repressurization as a full range pressure cycle, which is an overly conservative approach. In-service pressure cycles used to predict the growth of cracks in operational pressure vessels results in significantly longer life, since most in-service pressure cycles are only a fraction of the full design pressure range. Fatigue crack growth rates can vary widely for a given pressure range depending on the details of the residual strains imparted during the autofrettage process because of their influence on crack driving forces. Small changes in variables associated with the autofrettage process, e.g., the target autofrettage overburden pressure, can result in large changes in the residual stress profile leading to possibly degraded fatigue life. In this paper, computational simulation was used for sensitivity studies to evaluate the effect of both operating conditions and autofrettage conditions on fatigue life for Type 2 highpressure hydrogen vessels. The analysis in this paper explores these sensitivities, and the results are used to provide guidance on cycle counting. In particular, we identify the pressure cycle ranges that can be ignored over the life of the vessel as having negligible effect on fatigue life. This study also examines the sensitivity of design life to the autofrettage process and the impact on life if the targeted residual strain is not achieved during manufacturing.

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High pressure Type 2 hoop-wrapped, thick-walled vessels are commonly used at hydrogen refueling stations. Vessels installed at stations circa 2010 are now reaching their design cycle limit and are being retired, which is the motivation for exploring life extension opportunities. The number of design cycles is based on a fatigue life calculation using a fracture mechanics assessment according to ASME Section VIII, Division 3, which assumes each cycle is the full pressure range identified in the User's Design Specification for a given pressure vessel design; however, assessment of service data reveals that the actual pressure cycles are more conservative than the design specification. A case study was performed in which in-service pressure cycles were used to re-calculate the design cycles. It was found that less than 1% of the allowable crack extension was consumed when crack growth was assessed using in-service design pressures compared to the original design fatigue life from 2010. Additionally, design cycles were assessed on the 2010 era vessels based on design curves from the recently approved ASME Code Case 2938, which were based on fatigue crack growth rate relationships over a broader range of K. Using the Code Case 2938 design curves yielded nearly 2.7 times greater design cycles compared to the 2010 vessel original design basis. The benefits of using inservice pressure cycles to assess the design life and the implications of using the design curves in Code Case 2938 are discussed in detail in this paper.

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Multiple fastener reduced-order models and fitting strategies are used on a multiaxial dataset and these models are further evaluated using a high-fidelity analysis model to demonstrate how well these strategies predict load-displacement behavior and failure. Two common reduced-order modeling approaches, the plug and spot weld, are calibrated, assessed, and compared to a more intensive approach – a “two-block” plug calibrated to multiple datasets. An optimization analysis workflow leveraging a genetic algorithm was exercised on a set of quasistatic test data where fasteners were pulled at angles from 0° to 90° in 15° increments to obtain material parameters for a fastener model that best capture the load-displacement behavior of the chosen datasets. The one-block plug is calibrated just to the tension data, the spot weld is calibrated to the tension (0°) and shear (90°), and the two-block plug is calibrated to all data available (0°-90°). These calibrations are further assessed by incorporating these models and modeling approaches into a high-fidelity analysis model of the test setup and comparing the load-displacement predictions to the raw test data.

Multiple fastener reduced-order models and fitting strategies are used on a multiaxial dataset and these models are further evaluated using a high-fidelity analysis model to demonstrate how well these strategies predict load-displacement behavior and failure. Two common reduced-order modeling approaches, the plug and spot weld, are calibrated, assessed, and compared to a more intensive approach – a “two-block” plug calibrated to multiple datasets. An optimization analysis workflow leveraging a genetic algorithm was exercised on a set of quasistatic test data where fasteners were pulled at angles from 0° to 90° in 15° increments to obtain material parameters for a fastener model that best capture the load-displacement behavior of the chosen datasets. The one-block plug is calibrated just to the tension data, the spot weld is calibrated to the tension (0°) and shear (90°), and the two-block plug is calibrated to all data available (0°-90°). These calibrations are further assessed by incorporating these models and modeling approaches into a high-fidelity analysis model of the test setup and comparing the load-displacement predictions to the raw test data.

Joining technologies such as welds, adhesives, and bolts are nearly ubiquitous and often lead to concentrated stresses, making them key in analyzing failure of a structure. While high-fidelity models for fasteners have been developed, they are impractical for use in a full system or component analyses, which may involve hundreds of fasteners undergoing mixed loading. Other failure models for fasteners which use specialized boundary conditions, e.g., spot welds, do well in replicating the load-displacement response of a fastener in a mesh independent manner, but are limited in their ability to transmit a bending moment and require constitutive assumptions when there is a lack of experimental data. A reduced-order finite element model using cohesive surface elements to model fastener failure is developed. A cohesive zone allows for more explicitly representing the fracture of the fastener, rather than simply specifying a load-displacement relationship between two surfaces as in the spot weld. This fastener model is assessed and calibrated against tensile and shear loading data and compared to a traditional spot weld approach. The cohesive zone model can reproduce the experimental data, demonstrating its viability as a reduced-order model of fastener behavior.

A collaborative testing and analysis effort investigating the effects of threaded fastener size on load-displacement behavior and failure was conducted to inform the modeling of threaded connections. A series of quasistatic tension tests were performed on #00, #02, #04, #06 and #4 (1/4”) A286 stainless steel fasteners (NAS1351N00-4, NAS1352N02-6, NAS1352N04-8, NAS1352N06-10, and NAS1352N4-24, respectively) to provide calibration and validation data for the analysis portion of the study. The data obtained from the testing series reveals that the size of the fastener may influence the characteristic stress-strain response, as the failure strains and ultimate loads varied between the smaller (#00 and #02) and larger (#04, #06, and #4) fasteners. These results motivated the construction of high-fidelity finite element models to investigate the underlying mechanics of these responses. Two threaded fastener models, one with axisymmetric threads and the other with full 3D helical threads, were calibrated to subsets of the data to compare modeling approaches, analyze fastener material properties, and assess how well these calibrated properties extend to fasteners of varying sizes and if trends exist that can inform future best modeling practices. The modeling results are complemented with a microstructural analysis to further investigate the root cause of size effects observed in the experimentally obtained load-displacement curves. These analyses are intended to inform and guide reduced-order modeling approaches that can be incorporated in system level analyses of abnormal environments where modeling fidelity is limited and each component is not always testable, but models must still capture fastener behavior up to and including failure. This complimentary testing and analysis study identifies differences in the characteristic stress-strain response of varying sized fasteners, provides microstructural evidence to support these variations, evaluates our ability to extrapolate calibrated properties to different sized fasteners, and ultimately further educates the analysis community on the robustness of fastener modeling.

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