Study on creep damage and life prediction of threaded connections at high temperature

Abstract

In this study, Kachanov–Rabotnov model and stress relaxation damage constitutive equations deduced from Kachanov–Rabotnov model were applied to analyze the creep damage and to predict life for threaded connection structure at high temperature with finite element method. The parameters of Kachanov–Rabotnov model were obtained by fitting the results of creep experiments for titanium alloy at 650°C. Based on the experimental and finite element analysis results for standard specimen, a creep failure criterion was established. Then the influences of the external tensile load on the creep damage and life, as well as the stress relaxation on the initial preload, were studied. The analysis of stress relaxation for bolt shows that the stress relaxation has a remarkable effect on the bolt preload. The preloads decrease to a determined value with creep time and remain almost unchanged later. When the determined value is less than the required preload acting on the bolt, the structure will fail due to insufficient preload caused by stress relaxation.