Predicting mechanical and electrochemical behavior of atmospheric corrosion in excavator arm

This work aims at predicting, formulating and verifying a mechanical and electrochemical model of excavator arm failure especially in welding area. Excavator arm failure may happen due to negligence and non-cyclical maintenance. COMSOL Multiphysics software has been used for predicting undetected 2 mm diameter crack failure and for calculating stress and strain. Calculations have been done after one year of working under humid atmospheric conditions in the Mediterranean Sea environment. Simulation results of the proposed model show occurrence of atmospheric corrosion and increase in crack size by about 15 times. Therefore, there is increase in probability of excavator’s arm failure when working without maintenance and under hard working conditions.