Method for Developing Variable Axial Loading in Thick Walled Pressure Vessels
Traditional hydraulic fatigue testing is performed on open ended cylindrical sections of pressure vessels to establish their fatigue life. Typically only hoop loading of the pressure vessels is required to determine fatigue life. However, for some specific geometries and service conditions a more complex test is required. It has been confirmed that certain geometries have experienced circumferential cracking because of combined, nearly equivalent axial loading and hoop loading. Consequently, a test fixture was engineered, designed, built and tested by US Army - Benét Laboratories / ARDEC to replicate the service loading condition. Simultaneous axial / hoop fatigue testing results in a more realistic representation of service loading conditions and a more accurate determination of fatigue life for these non-typical cases.