DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW FATIGUE TESTING MACHINE FOR HIGH FREQUENCY FATIGUE DAMAGE ASSESSMENT

A new simple fatigue testing machine, which can carry out fast and low-cost fatigue tests of welded joints subject to wave with high frequency vibration, has been developed. This machine is designed for plate bending type fatigue tests, and wave load is applied by using motors with eccentric mass. Springing vibration is superimposed by attaching an additional vibrator to the test specimen, and whipping vibration is superimposed by an intermittent hammering. Fatigue tests which simulate springing and whipping by a conventional servo-type fatigue testing machines are very expensive and use a large amount of electricity. If one uses these conventional machines, it is difficult to simulate superimposed stress wave forms at high speed, and it takes long hours of testing to examine the high frequency effect. In contrast, it is found that fatigue tests can be carried out in fast, i.e. waves with 10Hz or higher frequency for out-of-plane gusset welded joint specimens with 12mm plate thickness by using the developed machine. The electricity to be used for fatigue tests could be minimal, for example one thousandth of that needed for conventional machines. These results demonstrate the superiority of the developed machine.