Engineering Measurement of Bulk Residual Stress Distributions in Thick-Section Components

Prediction of the fatigue and fracture performance of large, monolithic components depends on knowledge of the bulk residual stresses that they contain. The contour method is a new way to measure bulk residual stress fields that provides data useful for forecasting fatigue and fracture performance, and it can be applied to thick-section parts. Relying on simple assumptions and straightforward experimental procedures, the method provides the two-dimensional spatial distribution of residual stress normal to a plane of interest within the component. When the method is applied at sections with high failure risk, the measured residual stress field may be used directly with standard methods for predicting fatigue crack initiation and growth. The presentation provides a summary of the experimental details of the contour method and examples of its application. The paper further demonstrates the use of residual stress measurement data for correlating the fatigue and fracture performance of residual stress bearing test articles.