Abstract This work reports a study of the fatigue behaviour and quasi‐static strength of full‐scale adhesively bonded steel‐composite joints. Three joints with an approximately 10‐mm‐thick layer of methyl methacrylate adhesive were manufactured in dockyard conditions. One specimen was tensile tested till failure, while two specimens were subjected to ~3.5 million fatigue cycles, followed by a residual tensile test supported with digital image correlation. The shear, longitudinal and peel strain values within the adhesive bondlines are significantly higher at the gripped sides due to the asymmetrical design of the steel brackets. All specimens showed a significantly higher shear strength than the design values defined by the shipbuilder. Fibre Bragg sensors monitored strains at steel and composite constituents and allowed to detect damage onset and evolution in tensile tested specimens. A finite element model of the joint was developed with material and interface properties based on dedicated small‐scale experiments. The simulation results of strains during a static load test corresponded closely to the DIC measurements. All specimens failed near the composite‐adhesive interface due to delamination of the composite panel.

Abstract Performing in situ scanning electron microscope (SEM) tests is an interesting way to visualise strain heterogeneities under mechanical loading. An essential step before performing the tests is to define the acquisition conditions. The aim of this paper is to propose a classification of the acquisition conditions that are most important for the accuracy of strain measurements using digital image correlation (DIC) in in situ SEM tests. More than 200 image pairs were acquired using a field emission gun SEM. The influence of different acquisition conditions was investigated: acceleration voltage, probe current, working distance, magnification, number of integrated images, image resolution, integration and number of integrated images, scan speed, contrast, brightness and exposure time of the sample in a given area. The methodology implemented in this work is an interesting tool for detecting scan line shift, drift distortion, spatial distortion and rastering artefacts. It allows the optimization of SEM acquisition conditions for strain measurements. Finally, optimal acquisition conditions for in situ testing are proposed and used to perform a tensile test on pure copper. The main factors highlighted include the size of the subset used in the DIC, the beam stabilisation time before image acquisition and the size of the images, which play a significant role in the results. It is recommended to apply the methodology to each device to optimise the acquisition conditions.

Abstract Deformable components such as sandwich structures possess promising properties for use in protection systems. Detailed studies on energy absorption and fluid–structure interaction effects are necessary for the application of deformable sandwich structures in blast resistant design. In this paper, an existing shock tube facility has been extended with a transparent section to observe and measure fluid flow and the structural response of deformable components during transient dynamic loading. The extension was instrumented with pressure sensors and load cells to measure the pressure and force transmitted through the component during testing. The transparent design allows the use of optical measurement techniques. Here, high‐speed cameras were used both for digital image correlation and background‐oriented schlieren imaging. Tests with free‐standing plates and sandwich components were performed. A strong dependency was observed between the plate mass, and thus the velocity of the plates, and the pressure measured upstream and downstream of the components. The tests were simulated with a one‐dimensional numerical model for compressible shock flow with fluid–structure interaction. The numerical model accurately reproduced the shock flow and component displacements measured experimentally. Overall, the experimental set‐up presented in this study proved to be suitable for the detailed examination of deformable components subjected to airblast loading.

Abstract The metal additive manufacturing (AM) is a technology that is rapidly spreading in the industrial sector with its enormous potential in making components with complex shapes and low weight, ensuring a high structural strength. However, the mechanical properties of the components depend on the printing process, and the interactions between the process variables and the final material behaviour is still not totally understood. In this work, 12 different types of tensile specimen were built by AM using the laser powder bed fusion (L‐PBF) technique; the used material is the 316L stainless steel. The specimens have the same geometry and the same process parameters in terms of layer thickness, hatch space, laser power, spot diameter, scanning speed and platform preheating temperature, while different laser scan strategies and building orientations are evaluated. The scope is to characterize the plastic behaviour of such specimens and study the differences due to distinct printing strategies. Stereo digital image correlation (stereo‐DIC) was used to evaluate the deformation state and analyse the material anisotropy. Finally, the microstructure and presence of defects were investigated through the optical microscopy (OM) and the scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The analysis shows how the plastic behaviour and the formation of defects are remarkably influenced by the laser scan strategy and by the building orientation.

Abstract Biphasic hyperelastic models have become popular for soft hydrated tissues, and there is a pressing need for appropriate identification methods using full‐field measurement techniques such as digital volume correlation. This paper proposes to address this need with the virtual fields method (VFM). The main asset of the proposed approach is that it avoids the repeated resolution of complex nonlinear finite element models. By choosing special virtual fields, the VFM approach can extract hyperelastic parameters of the solid part of the biphasic medium without resorting to identifying the model parameters driving the osmotic effects in the interstitial fluid. The proposed approach is verified and validated through three different examples: the first and second using simulated data and then the third using experimental data obtained from porcine descending thoracic aortas samples in osmotically active solution.

Abstract The present paper describes a novel experimental method for characterising the confined shear strength of concrete or rock‐like materials based on the use of pre‐stressed sample. This method, called PS‐PTS (Pre‐Stressed Punch‐Through‐Shear), employs a metallic confinement cell that is first quasi‐statically deformed so the concrete sample can be introduced in between the cell jaws. The confinement force is transmitted to the sample in the unloading stage. It is shown that this initial pre‐load level can be predicted by an elastic closed‐form solution. Strain‐gauges glued on the cell allow the confinement level applied to the sample to be experimentally measured during the pre‐stressing stage and the shear stage. In the next stage, the central part of the sample is subjected to a differential displacement towards the lateral parts by means of a hydraulic press so the confined shear strength of the tested material can be deduced. The results are compared to the data previously obtained with an “oedometric” confinement cell in terms of confinement stresses and shear strength.Highlights A Pre‐Stressed Punch‐Through‐Shear technique is proposed based on pre‐loaded cell. A close‐form solution predicts the level of pre‐load applied to the sample. The cell is instrumented with strain gauges, so the applied forces are measured. The technique is applied to characterise the confined shear strength of concrete. Results are compared to those obtained with the ‘Oedo‐PTS’ testing method.

Abstract Deterioration assessment of materials is essential to the continued effective operation of critical components in thermal power plants. Establishing the degree of creep exhaustion of power engineering alloys operating at high temperatures and stresses guides maintenance strategies to ensure reliable plant operation. Within progressive inspection philosophies, traditional laboratory‐based creep testing is often difficult to conduct on ex‐service steel due to the limited material availability from which to machine standard specimen geometries. This work investigates a technique for the measurement of creep strain curves at several stresses and at 600°C from a single test using a nontraditional specimen geometry together with full‐field strain measurement through digital image correlation (DIC). Of interest is ex‐service X20CrMoV12‐1 (X20) which is widely used in older, subcritical thermal power plants. The paper aims to show that multiple creep curves can be resolved over a spatially varying stress field using DIC whilst preserving material economy. Differences in creep behaviour between ex‐service X20 with varying levels of service exposure are evident from quantitative comparisons of the creep strain and rate curves through threshold stress computation which agrees with hardness measurements and microstructural observation of subgrains and precipitates using electron microscopy. These single‐specimen tests yield high densities of creep data which can be used in the calibration of creep damage models for characterisation of ex‐service X20.