Handbook of Structural Life Assessment Hardcover - 2017

This important, self-contained reference deals with structural life assessment (SLA) and structural health monitoring (SHM) in a combined form. SLA periodically evaluates the state and condition of a structural system and provides recommendations for possible maintenance actions or the end of structural service life. It is a diversified field and relies on the theories of fracture mechanics, fatigue damage process, and reliability theory. For common structures, their life assessment is not only governed by the theory of fracture mechanics and fatigue damage process, but by other factors such as corrosion, grounding, and sudden collision. On the other hand, SHM deals with the detection, prediction, and location of crack development online. Both SLA and SHM are combined in a unified and coherent treatment,

• bringing together the major mechanical processes at work that determine the lifetime of a structure, including normal loading, extreme loading, and the effects of corrosion with relevant analysis techniques
• covering joints and weldments, which are features where structural failure is likely to originate
• reviewing diversified problems including probabilistic description of structural failure, extreme loading, environmental effects such as corrosion and hydrogen embrittlement, joints and weldments, and control of crack propagation (crack arresters) and corrosion
• providing a unified approach to SLA and SHM.

Handbook of Structural Life Assessment will be an essential guide for aerospace structures designers and maintenance engineers, pipeline engineers, ship designers and builders, researchers in civil, mechanical, naval, and aerospace engineering, and graduate students in civil, mechanical, naval, and aerospace engineering.