Nonlinear crack growth monitoring

Oak Ridge National Laboratory has developed (Welch et al. 1999. Nonlinear Crack Growth Monitoring, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 1999) a new technique to monitor the growth of cracks in structural members, and to predict at what point failure due to this damage is imminent, requiring structure repair or replacement, in those cases where predictions based on conventional design techniques are difficult. This will allow greater confidence in continued operation of structures with known flaw sites, and will provide a quantifiable means of assessing when structure failure is imminent. (Monitored material: 2024-T3 sheets.)