Corrosion-Fatigue Structural Integrity Assessment Using a Thermodynamic Entropy Based Damage Approach

Using fundamentals of irreversible thermodynamics, with specific focus on entropy generation, this paper studies the structural integrity of degraded materials. All damage mechanisms share a common feature namely energy dissipation. Dissipation, as a fundamental measure for irreversibility in a thermodynamic treatment of non-equilibrium processes, is quantified by entropy generation. Based on the theoretical relationship between entropy generation and generalized thermodynamic forces and fluxes, the entropic damage is measured during a corrosion-fatigue degradation experiment. Life estimation of components, which were subject to complex corrosion-fatigue degradation mechanism, was then estimated through a proposed entropic-based prognostic framework. The performance of predictions was evaluated and compared with previous predictions in terms of the influence of additional features on components health assessment.Copyright © 2015 by ASME