Fatigue Life Assessment of API Steel Grade X65 Pipeline Using a Modified Basquin Parameter of the Magnetic Flux Leakage Signal

Abstract

This paper presents a modified fatigue life model of the Basquin equation using the stress parameter of the magnetic flux leakage signal. Most pipeline steels experience cyclic loading during service and the influence of the load history makes assessing fatigue behaviour more difficult. The magnetic flux leakage signal’s response to a uniaxial cyclic test of API X65 steel was measured with eight levels of ultimate tensile stress loads. The influence of dH(y)/dx on fatigue failure was the main concern in this study, the aim being to represent localised stress parameters in the modified Basquin equation. Both fatigue lives, experimental and predicted from the modified Basquin equation, were validated through reliability analysis, producing a 60% value when approaching 1.8 × 105 cycles. The fatigue data from the experiment produced a higher mean-cycle-to-failure value than the prediction data, with slightly different values of 3.37 × 105 and 3.28 × 105. Additionally, the modified Basquin equation’s predicted and the experimental fatigue lives were found to have a high R2 correlation value of 0.9022. The Pearson correlation also showed a good relationship between the fatigue lives, with an r value of 0.9801. Finally, the modified Basquin equation based on dH(y)/dx signals provided an accurate and alternative method for durability assessment.

Keywords

• magnetic flux leakage
• fatigue life
• modified Basquin equation
• reliability analysis
• uniaxial cyclic test