Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Stress Concentration Factor of Cable Steel Wire with Corrosion Pits

Abstract

Fatigue crack initiates from corrosion pits in various metallic structures, leads to the decline of the fatigue life. In the present study, the effects of the width, depth, angle and spacing of primary and secondary pits on failure mechanism and stress concentration factor are investigated by the experimental and numerical analysis. The results show that depth-width ratio of corrosion pits is the critical factor that affects the dangerous area and stress concentration factor. The development of secondary pits will lead to the multiplier effect of stress concentration factor. The maximum stress is basically located at the mouth or middle part of secondary pits. In addition, the pit angle does not change the distribution of dangerous area, but with the pits angle increasing, the stress concentration factor increases as a whole. The contours that classical butterfly-like distribution rotates and the rotation angle is basically the same with that of the corrosion pits. Furthermore, with the pits spacing increasing, the stress concentration factor increases gradually and converges to the fixed value, which is equal to the stress concentration factor under the single pit. Finally, the relationship between the pits parameters and stress concentration factor is systematically predicted.