Fatigue life analysis of a cannon barrel

A steel cannon barrel was tested and analyzed in order to predict its lifet ime. Mechanical properties, fracture toughness and fatigue behavior were de termined experimentally. The cannon barrel was assumed to have a smooth inn er surface. On that basis, finite element analyses were carried out in orde r to determine the stress intensity factor as a function of crack length fo r the case in which the cannon barrel contains two symmetrically located cr acks. The fatigue data was assumed to follow the Paris-Erdogan law. A stati stical Monte Carlo analysis for the fatigue life of the cannon barrel was c arried out with many of the parameters assumed to be random variables. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.