Ultrasonic wave simulation in shrink-fit assembly for the estimation of stress at the contact interference

Abstract

The investigation of stress distribution in an interference fit contact region is essential information required in fatigue and wear calculations to determine design life, regrinding requirements, and maintenance schedules. The aim of this work was to use ultrasound to non-destructively determine stress in the shrink-fit assembly, with the acoustoelastic theory. This one is based on the dependence of the propagation velocity of the ultrasonic wave with the stress state in the material. When a material is subjected to stress, there is a variation of the propagation velocity of the ultrasonic wave. Three methods have been initiated to ensure that the results will be more real, the first is the analytical calculation using thick-walled cylinder theory and Lamé formulation, then a numerical modeling of the contact between the assembled parts using finite element analysis and the third one is using elastic wave simulation and acoustoelastic theory in order to determine the value of the stress distribution at the interference region.