As can be seen, fatigue is the main cause of damage, followed by groups that can be designated as accidental damage. Corrosion damage is ranked as ranked as the fourth most frequent cause of damage. Figure 2.1 shows a fatigue failure of a propeller shaft in a shuttle tanker. The fracture occurred in the intermediate part of the shaft. The crack started from the surface of the shaft due to a weld arch strike. The fatigue surface is characterized by its smooth appearance with almost no plastic strain. At several stages during crack propagation, marks which are due to low stress variations are left as traces on the fatigue surface. These so-called beach marks correspond to changes in the fatigue loading; the crack front will make a mark during the time of slow growth due to smaller stress cycles. These marks are analogous to the dark winter rings found in the cross section of a tree. As can be seen, the beach marks have a typical semi-elliptical shape indicating the position of the crack front at various stages during the crack propagation. When the fatigue crack has reached the size of about three-quarters of the shaft diameter (D = 360 mm), the final fracture has occurred due to lack of the remaining ligament of the shaft cross section. It is a ductile fracture governed by the maximum occurring shear stress. The 45-degree share planes are easy to recognize for the final fracture. In the example in Figure 2.1, the fatigue failure leads to a severe leakage in the stern bearing tube and the blackout of the main engine. Nobody in the crew was injured.
In other cases, fatigue cracks from welded details have lead to severe consequences and loss of life. Figure 2.2 shows the semi-submersible Alexander Kielland that capsized in the North Sea in March 1980. Although the disaster was a consequence of several unfortunate circumstances, the root cause was a fatigue crack in an attachment weld at the surface of a brace member. The brace member is denoted D6 in Figure 2.2 and the crack has started from the fillet weld between a hydrophone support and the brace. After the crack had propagated through the wall thickness of the brace, it continued to grow along the circumference of the tube splitting up the main cross section of the brace. Before the final fracture the crack was over 1 meter long. The accident had 123 fatalities and initiated a large research effort on fatigue in Norway in order to obtain a better understanding of the fatigue damage problem of welded joints. Based on the increased knowledge of the fatigue behavior, improvements were made regarding both detailed fatigue design and inspection planning for offshore structures. A final failure case is shown in Figure 2.3. A large fatigue crack in the deck area in the mid-ships section of a tanker can be seen. These types of cracks may cause a rupture of the cross section of the hull beam. This may endanger the life of crew members and cause environmental damage to the sea and the shore.