Boundary Element Analysis of Fatigue Crack Growth for CFRP-Strengthened Steel Plates with Longitudinal Weld Attachments
Publication: Journal of Composites for Construction
Volume 19, Issue 2
Abstract
In this paper, steel plates with longitudinal weld attachments strengthened by carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates on one side were analyzed based on the boundary element method and compared with test data from the literature. Good agreement with the data indicated that the numerical analysis was reliable for estimation of the fatigue crack propagation of CFRP-bonded steel plates with longitudinal weld attachments. The effects of double-sided strengthening, double-sided weld attachment and CFRP stiffness on the fatigue behavior of retrofitted welded joints were also investigated. The results showed that double-sided strengthening was much more efficient than single-sided application. It was observed that the crack propagation of steel plates with weld attachments on both sides was accelerated compared with those with attachments on only one side. In comparison with steel plates without a weld attachment, the retrofitting efficiency, in terms of the fatigue life extension ratio, was significantly lowered in welded plates with single-sided repair, whereas only a slight difference was observed in those with double-sided strengthening. The effect of an increased modulus of the composite materials could result in better fatigue performance, especially with double-sided application.
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Acknowledgments
This project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (50808139), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities and Kwang-Hua Fund for College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, ARC Discovery Grant (DP120101708) and National Key Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, 2012CB026200). Thanks are extended to Dr. Sharon Mellings from Computational Mechanics BEASY Ltd. for her help with the numerical modeling and Dr. Chao Wu from Monash University for providing the test data. The first author wishes to thank the China Scholarship Council and Monash University for sponsoring her research at Monash University.
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Published In
Journal of Composites for Construction
Volume 19 • Issue 2 • April 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 16, 2014
Accepted: Jun 23, 2014
Published online: Aug 5, 2014
Discussion open until: Jan 5, 2015
Published in print: Apr 1, 2015
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