Abstract
Fatigue life depends strongly on irreversible contributions that accumulate during cyclic loading and unloading of structures. However, the correct identification of the loading path in terms of uniaxial or multi-axial stress states, proportional or non-proportional loading is essential because these factors can significantly alter the material response. In this study, finite element analysis was conducted to assess the fatigue crack initiation life of a non-load carrying fillet joint by considering weld bead shape and a cyclic plasticity accumulation during fatigue loading, which is a main cause of crack initiation. Cyclic plasticity behaviour including cyclic hardening and softening together was investigated with an unconventional plasticity model called the subloading surface model and extended to include both elastic boundary and cyclic damage concepts. The cyclic plasticity model can capture realistic plastic strain accumulation during high cycle fatigue under macroscopically elastic stressing conditions. KEYWORDS. Unconventional plasticity; Fatigue; Loading path; Crack initiation.
Highlights
A s many welded structures such as bridges reach the age at which they are projected to require maintenance, techniques to calculate their fatigue life accurately and to prolong it, are needed [1]
The material response tests gave us information about the correlation between Hd and the fatigue crack initiation life, which was used in the non-load carrying fillet joint simulations to reproduce the experimental results provided by the Japanese Society of Steel Construction (JSSC)
W e investigated the fatigue life of metal structures with an unconventional plasticity model combined with a damage variable that includes the plastic work
Summary
A s many welded structures such as bridges reach the age at which they are projected to require maintenance, techniques to calculate their fatigue life accurately and to prolong it, are needed [1]. We investigated the fatigue behaviour of a non-load carrying fillet joint under uniaxial conditions for different loading paths, while the stress path deviate from proportional one due to the geometrical complexity of the weld bead. The numerical analyses were performed with two different approaches: a series of tests investigated the material response and FE analysis was applied to a steel component of a material and a non-load carrying fillet joint. The material response tests gave us information about the correlation between Hd and the fatigue crack initiation life, which was used in the non-load carrying fillet joint simulations to reproduce the experimental results provided by the Japanese Society of Steel Construction (JSSC)
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