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2020
Book Article
Title
Structural Durability
Abstract
Finally, we will look into durability growth strategies and accelerated testing: In this chapter, materials and structures get an application background and, thus, testing is continued with structural coupons and full-scale components. Time- and cost-efficient life testing is enabled by a proper combination of usage rate and overstress acceleration which is introduced in this final part of the book. Z-scores help to design the conditions of testing and yet to manage the probability of failure for the product verification and validation process. A complete method for the structural durability evaluation of wheels is described and opposed to simplified wheel fatigue tests to finally present the value of service load simulation for optimizing products. Looking beyond 'safe life' leads then to fracture mechanics which is manageable for safety-relevant components too: A study of the crack growth of a rail vehicle axle provides an outlook for the application of damage tolerance concepts.