ASME Adopts Battelle's Fatigue Prediction Tool

By DE Editors

September 10, 2007 — When the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME; Columbus, OH)  publishes the latest version of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Codes it will include Battelle’s Mesh-Insensitive Structural Stress method, as an alternative means for predicting fatigue and fatigue life.

The inclusion in the 2007 Section VIII, Division 2 of the Code signifies a breakthrough in how industry addresses weld fatigue, and marks the achievement of Battelle scientist Dr. Pingsha Dong.

The method is also known as the master S-N curve method signifying its ability to correlate a massive amount of actual fatigue test data into a single S-N curve, and the Verity method as implemented in fe-Safe, a fatigue software package distributed by Safe Technology Ltd. (Sheffield, UK).

The ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code is required for use by most regulatory bodies in North America but is also broadly used internationally. Dong noted that the mesh-insensitive structural stress method is directly applicable for fatigue design and life prediction of steel bridge structures, as well as remaining life assessment for aging bridges.

Visit Battelle’s Verity program for more information. and go to ASME for more on the Code.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company's website.