Fatigue study on the cracks of a cannon

Purpose: Cannon is one of the most usage parts in military industries and analysis of its pipe is very important. Therefore, the prediction of its longevity to say, the number of cannon ball that can be fired till it is break down should be under consideration. Design/methodology/approach: Since the life of cannon's barrel directly depends on the inner micro-cracks under numerous firing, the study of these cracks are very important. From this point of view, the stress analysis on crack tip is carried out via ANSYS software in this research. Findings: This analysis shows that the stress intensity on the tip of the crack is a function of its length and increases with the number of these cracks. Research limitations/implications: In this research the fatigue with several cracks is analyzed in the barrel according to the explosion pressure in order to find the critical conditions. Originality/value: Since the cannon barrel life is a convert function of the stress intensity of the cracks, multi-cracks condition passes the most fatigue cycling. The shape function of the cracks is also decreased with the number of the cracks.