1. A tool for forming a body of soft clay for making a pottery article comprising:
an elongate body having an elongate exterior bottom, an elongate exterior top, at least two sides each having an exterior surface, a first end and a second end;
said bottom having a surface which is substantially planar substantially throughout the elongate longitudinal length and transverse width of said body;
one of said sides having a flat exterior surface extending generally longitudinally along and substantially perpendicular to said bottom and forming a sharp edge with said bottom, another of said sides having an exterior surface with a generally rounded cross-section blending into the bottom and differing from a cross-section of the exterior surface of said one side;
a tapered region adjacent said first end with a generally convex surface which blends into the top and tapers toward said one end and the bottom with a decreasing thickness of the body and said generally convex surface extends across said top;
one of said ends having a generally semi-circular shape with an exterior surface substantially perpendicular to said bottom and forming a sharp edge with said bottom; and
each of said top, bottom, side, sharp edge and convex surface has a configuration constructed for forming at least a portion of a body of soft clay.
2. The tool of claim 1 wherein said elongate top is substantially planar and substantially parallel to said bottom.
3. The tool of claim 1 wherein said top is generally flat and the periphery of said flat top blends with adjacent sides of said elongate body.
4. The tool of claim 3 wherein the other of said sides in cross-section has a generally rounded exterior surface which blends into said top and bottom.
5. The tool of claim 1 wherein said one side has a rounded edge which blends into said top and said flat exterior surface of said one side.
6. The tool of claim 1 wherein at least one of said sides has a rounded edge.
7. The tool of claim 1 wherein each of said first and second ends comprises a blunt surface.
8. The tool of claim 7 wherein said flat exterior surface of said one side merges with said blunt surface of at least one of said ends.
9. The tool of claim 7 wherein said blunt surface has a semi-circular shape.
10. The tool of claim 1 which comprises a tapered region adjacent said second end which blends into the top and tapers toward said second end and bottom with decreasing thickness of the body.
11. The tool of claim 10 wherein said tapered region adjacent said second end has a compound convex surface.
12. The tool of claim 7 wherein said first and second ends each comprise a tapered region blending into said top and each said tapered region has a compound convex surface.
13. The tool of claim 1 further comprising a handle remote from said first end.
14. The tool of claim 1 wherein said two sides of said elongate body are inclined toward each other.
15. A tool for forming a body of soft clay for making a pottery article comprising:
an elongate body having an elongate exterior bottom, an elongate exterior top, at least two elongate sides, and first and second ends;
said bottom having a surface which is substantially planar substantially throughout the elongate longitudinal length and transverse width of said body;
one of said sides having a flat exterior surface extending generally longitudinally along and substantially perpendicular to said bottom and forming a sharp edge with said bottom;
a tapered region formed on said elongate body at least adjacent said first end which blends into the top and tapers toward said first end and the bottom with a decreasing thickness of the body and the tapered region extends across said top;
one of said ends having a generally semi-circular shape with an exterior surface substantially perpendicular to said bottom and forming a sharp edge with said bottom; and
each of said top, bottom, sides and tapered region being constructed for shaping at least a portion of a body of soft clay.
16. The tool of claim 15 wherein said elongate body further comprises a generally flat top exterior surface.
17. The tool of claim 16 wherein said generally flat top exterior surface blends with each of said two elongate sides of said body.
18. The tool of claim 15 wherein said surface of said at least one side has a rounded edge which blends into said top and said flat exterior surface of said one side.
19. The tool of claim 15 wherein said surface of said other side has a generally rounded exterior surface which blends with said top and said bottom exterior surface.
20. The tool of claim 15 wherein said first end has a blunt surface having a generally semi-circular shape and wherein said blunt surface is generally perpendicular to the bottom, forms a sharp edge with the bottom and merges with at least said flat exterior surface of said one side.
21. The tool of claim 15 which comprises a tapered region having a compound convex surface adjacent one of said ends which blends into the top and tapers toward said one end and the bottom with decreasing thickness of the body.
22. The tool of claim 15 further comprising a handle distal from said first end of said elongate body.
23. The tool of claim 15 wherein said two sides of said elongate body are tapered toward each other and one of the ends of the body.
24. A tool for forming a body of soft clay for making a pottery article comprising:
an elongate body including:
a generally flat bottom surface extending substantially throughout the longitudinal length and transverse width of the body;
a generally flat top surface substantially parallel to said bottom surface;
a right side and left side, one of said sides having a flat surface generally perpendicular to one of said top or bottom surfaces and forming a sharp edge therewith;
at least one end;
at least one tapered region having a compound convex surface adjacent said one end, blending into the other of said top and bottom surfaces and with a decreasing thickness of said body toward said one end and said one of said top and, bottom surfaces and said tapered region extending across the other of said top and bottom surfaces;
said one end also having a generally semi-circular exterior surface substantially perpendicular to said bottom and forming a sharp edge with said bottom;
at least two of said sides each having an exterior surface which in cross-section has a different configuration; and
each of said top surface, bottom surface, tapered region and sides being constructed for shaping at least a portion of a body of soft clay.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method of fatigue life prediction, comprising:
calculating a critical crack size of an object of interest;
identifying a first flaw in ultrasound data of the object of interest;
determining that the first flaw interacts with a second flaw, the first flaw is to be merged with the second flaw, or the first flaw is isolated;
calculating an initial crack size based on the determination; and
calculating an increase in the initial crack size due to fatigue and creep to determine a number of load cycles until the initial crack size reaches the critical crack size.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the object of interest includes part of a turbine generator.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the part includes a rotor.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first flaw interacts with the second flaw when a predetermined criteria for interaction is met.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first flaw is to be merged with the second flaw when a predetermined criteria for merging is met.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of calculating the increase in the initial crack size due to fatigue and creep is repeated until the initial crack size meets or exceeds the critical crack size.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein a load cycle includes a minimum stress applied to the object, a maximum stress applied to the object, a temperature exposure of the object and a holding time.
8. A system of fatigue life prediction, comprising:
a memory device for storing a program;
a processor in communication with the memory device, the processor operative with the program to:
calculate a critical crack size of an object of interest;
identify a first flaw in ultrasound data of the object of interest;
determine that the first flaw interacts with a second flaw, the first flaw is to be merged with the second flaw, or the first flaw is isolated;
calculate an initial crack size based on the determination; and
calculate an increase in the initial crack size due to fatigue and creep to determine a number of load cycles until the initial crack size reaches the critical crack size.
9. The system of claim 8, wherein the object of interest includes part of a turbine generator.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein the part includes a rotor.
11. The system of claim 8, wherein the first flaw interacts with the second flaw when a predetermined criteria for interaction is met.
12. The system of claim 8, wherein the first flaw is to be merged with the second flaw when a predetermined criteria for merging is met.
13. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor is further operative with the program code to repeat calculating the increase in the initial crack size due to fatigue and creep until the initial crack size meets or exceeds the critical crack size.
14. A computer program product for fatigue life prediction, comprising:
a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising:
computer readable program code configured to perform the steps of:
calculating a critical crack size of an object of interest;
identifying a first flaw in ultrasound data of the object of interest;
determining that the first flaw interacts with a second flaw, the first flaw is to be merged with the second flaw, or the first flaw is isolated;
calculating an initial crack size based on the determination; and
calculating an increase in the initial crack size due to fatigue and creep to determine a number of load cycles until the initial crack size reaches the critical crack size.
15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the object of interest includes part of a turbine generator.
16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the part includes a rotor.
17. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the first flaw interacts with the second flaw when a predetermined criteria for interaction is met.
18. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the first flaw is to be merged with the second flaw when a predetermined criteria for merging is met.
19. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the step of calculating the increase in the initial crack size due to fatigue and creep is repeated until the initial crack size meets or exceeds the critical crack size.
20. A method of fatigue life prediction, comprising:
calculating a critical crack size of an object of interest;
identifying a first flaw of the object of interest;
determining that the first flaw interacts with a second flaw, the first flaw is to be merged with the second flaw, or the first flaw is isolated;
calculating an initial crack size based on the determination; and calculating an increase in the initial crack size due to fatigue and creep to determine a number of load cycles until the initial crack size reaches the critical crack size.
21. The method of claim 20, wherein the first and second flaws are found using non-ultrasound data.