Dynamic crack propagation in specimens with a surface irregularity

The main purpose of the present work is to modify and enhance the existing fatigue rig which can be used to perform fatigue experiments on different sections including pipe sections. The structure of this paper is as follows. Section 2 describes the experimental setup used for the fatigue rig, describing the original design and current modifications which includes introducing two new load cells, plastic rollers and sliding flexible jaws to accommodate wide range of section sizes and shapes. Then we describe the instrumentation and data acquisition.