Abstract
Currently, over 80% of the navigation steel structures (NSS) within the United States’ inland waterway system have reached or exceeded their useful design life. Age has caused deterioration of the design boundary conditions (e.g. diagonal relaxation and quoin block deterioration) leading to overloads and causing multi-axial fatigue cracking. Furthermore, corrosion and deterioration of the protective system accelerate the fatigue crack growth rate. This paper presents numerical experiments to evaluate the viability of fiber reinforce polymer (FRP) retrofit methods as an alternative to repair mix-mode fatigue cracking. The numerical experiments use a combination of tension, shear, and bending forces to develop different cracking patterns. Afterward, an analysis is conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the repair techniques on the defined problem. The need for a retrofit method is first motivated by the lack of effective and easily implemented retrofit techniques for underwater structures when mix-mode fatigue cracks are present. Extended finite element (XFEM), with Paris’ Law and non-linear bond-slip behaviour of the adhesive, calibrates the crack propagation and strains surrounding the crack tip. The research then focuses on the discussion of the parametric analyses of large steel plate subjected to a combination of tension, shear and bending loads with and without CFRP repairs.
Highlights
The U.S Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) operates and maintains 236 lock chambers at 191 lock sites on 41 waterways throughout the United States
Once the left crack begins to propagate under the carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP), the crack growth’s angle drops to 47°
This article presented numerical simulations to evaluate the viability of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) retrofit methods as an alternative to repair mix-mode fatigue cracking
Summary
The U.S Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) operates and maintains 236 lock chambers at 191 lock sites on 41 waterways throughout the United States. Corrosion and deterioration of the NSS's protective system accelerate the fatigue crack growth rate creating accelerated mixed mode cracking large enough to threaten the integrity of the structure [8,9]. Current fatigue crack repair methods, guidelines, and provisions used for NSS were primarily adopted from the bridge engineering industry [10,11], but have proven ineffective. These methods are ineffective due to excessive corrosion and deterioration conditions as well as differences in operation and loading conditions. The need for a retrofit method is first motivated by the lack of effective and implemented retrofit techniques for underwater structures when mix-mode fatigue cracks are present
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