2007 Volume 48 Issue 6 Pages 1244-1248
A new fatigue sensor called “smart stress-memory patch”, which can estimate the cyclic number, the stress amplitude and the maximum stress from the measurement of crack length and acoustic emission (AE), is proposed to evaluate the fatigue damage of such infrastructure as bridges and ships. The fatigue crack growth behavior of thin electrodeposited (ED) Cu specimen for this sensor is investigated. The modified stress intensity factor is proposed to introduce the master curve of fatigue crack growth, because the fatigue crack growth behavior of this patch is affected by the maximum stress and stress ratio. AE signals are also measured to estimate the AE onset stress and examine Kaiser effect of ED Cu specimen. It is expected that the cyclic number, the stress amplitude and the maximum stress in fatigue loading can be estimated by this patch.
