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This work demonstrates that an artificial scaffold structure can be designed to exhibit mechanical properties close to the ones of real bone tissue, thus highly reducing the stress-shielding phenomenon. In this study the scan of lumbar vertebra fragment was reproduced to create a numerical 3D model (this model was called the reference bone sample). New nine 3D scaffold samples were designed and their numerical models were created. Using the finite element analysis, a static compression test was performed to assess the effective Young modulus of each tested sample. Also, two important metrics of each sample were assessed: relative density and surface area. Each new designed 3D scaffold sample was analyzed by considering two types of material properties: metal alloy properties (Ti-6Al-4V) and ABS polymer properties. Numerical analysis results of this study confirms that 3D scaffold used to design a periodic structure, either based on interconnected beams (A, B, C, D, E and F units) or made by removing regular shapes from base solid cubes (G, H, I units), can be refined to obtain mechanical properties similar to the ones of trabecular bone tissue. Experimental validation was performed on seven scaffolds (A, B, C, D, E, F and H units) printed from ABS material without any support materials by using Fused Deposition Modeling (FMD) technology. Results of experimental Young modulus of each printed scaffold are also presented and discussed.

Eddy current (EC) sensors placed in the vicinity of a rail track and sensitive to passing train components are safety-critical components commonly used in the railway sector. From the engineering point of view they form a system with numerous variables including their geometry, the lift-off, magnetic properties of the applied materials, the operating frequency and electrical characteristics of the built-in circuits. Although some simple configurations of the EC devices have been studied experimentally, numerically and analytically, there have so far been no universal algorithm allowing for predicting, understanding and optimizing output signals for arbitrarily device/track/wheel characteristics. A significant step towards such an universal algorithm is presented in this work, combining a linear 3D finite element modelling and a set of analytical formulas derived directly from the constants of the resonance circuit. Functions correlating the magnetic induction space/time characteristics with the circuit outputs are proposed and validated against experiment in three stages: (a) by determination of the signal from a flat thin FeSi plate (i.e. in fully controlled laboratory conditions), (b) by laboratory measurements of a highly degraded rail with uncertain material properties, (c) by tests of a commercial EC wheel detector, with reference to averaged service data. The proposed methodology can be extended to any NDT field where EC devices are applied.

There is an ever growing industrial demand for quantitative assessment of fatigue endurance of critical structural details. Although FEA-based calculations have become a standard in engineering design, problems involving the Low-To-Medium cycle range (101-104) remain challenging. This paper presents an attempt to optimally choose material data, meshing density and other algorithm settings in the context of recent design of the large offshore windfarm installation vessel, VIDAR. In this study, an attempt is made to assess default FEA-based procedures in RADIOSS software by comparing an experimental test against numerical analyses. Standard slender cylindrical (“I”) samples as well as originally designed “Z”-shaped samples made of A90 (S690)-grade steel have been loaded at various nominal stress ranges with or without local yielding. A good correlation has been found between FEA results and experimental cycles-to-failure in I-shaped samples, provided the softwarematerial data generator is avoided and Smith-Watson-Topper mean stress correction is used. In the case of Z-shaped samples, the calculated cycles-to-initiation of macro-crack is significantly lower (factor of 3) from the experiment. The observed discrepancy is argued to be due to stress gradient influence.

The paper contains an original comprehensive review of finite element analysis (FEA) applied by researchers to calibrate and improve existing and developing electromagnetic non-destructive testing and evaluation techniques, including but not limited to magnetic flux leakage (MFL), eddy current testing, electromagnetic-acoustic transducers (EMATs). Premium is put on the detection and modelling of magnetic field, as the vast majority of ENDT involves magnetic induction, either as a primary variable MFL or a complementary phenomenon (EC, EMATs). FEA is shown as a fit-for-purpose tool to design, understand and optimise ENDT systems, or a Reference for other modelling algorithms. The review intentionally omits the fundamentals of FEA and detailed principles of NDT. Strain-stress FEA applications in NDT, especially in ultrasonography and hole-drilling methodology, deserve as well a separate study.

The magnetic Barkhausen effect is useful for assessing 1D and 2D stress states of ferromagnetic steel objects. However, its extension to technically important materials, such as duplex anisotropic steels, remains challenging. The determination of magnetisation inside the studied object and the electromagnet for various geometries, materials and magnetisation angles is a key issue. Three-dimensional, dynamic finite element analysis has been applied to reproduce time-varying fields inside and outside the prototype of a double-core magnetising setup. Useful relationships between characteristics (peak height and location) and magnetic induction vector have been proposed. The qualitative plausibility of simulation has been validated with an experiment and an analytic formula of skin depth. The angular anisotropy of magnetic Barkhausen effect (MBN) in an isotropic sample has been shown in simulation and confirmed experimentally. The numerical model, despite some limitations, seems to be an efficient tool for calibrating stress/MBN relationships at least in isotropic structural steel components.

The study concerns a flat large construction steel plate of varying thickness magnetized with a C-core magnet. Modeling of the time- and spacefield distribution inside the plate is carried out. The novelty of the approach consists in carrying out a transient solution when a driving saw-tooth voltage is used. Also new is a refined magnetoacoustic emission (MAE) signal modeling, numerically deduced for various frequencies, and compared with experimental data. The distributions of fields are indirectly compared with stray field measurements and a close agreement is found

Experimental results are shown of magneto-acoustic emission (MAE) and Barkhausen effect (BE) for two ferritic steel plates of different dimensions. The paper presents preliminary results of modelling the MAE, based on the finite element method (FEM), taking into account the key role of the eddy currents. Explanations are suggested as to the effects of MAE peak maximum growth, shift, as well as the characteristic BE profiles at the bottom of the large plates.