Mechanism of Fatigue Crack Growth of Bridge Steel Structures

Abstract

This study was carried out on the background of Sutong Bridge project based on fracture mechanics, aiming at analyzing the growth mechanism of fatigue cracks of a bridge under the load of vehicles. Stress intensity factor (SIF) can be calculated by various methods. Three steel plates with different kinds of cracks were taken as the samples in this study. With the combination of finite element analysis software ABAQUS and the J integral method, SIF values of the samples were calculated. After that, the extended finite element method in the simulation of fatigue crack growth was introduced, and the simulation of crack growth paths under different external loads was analyzed. At last, we took a partial model from the Sutong Bridge and supposed its two dangerous parts already had fine cracks; then simulative vehicle load was added onto the U-rib to predict crack growth paths using the extended finite element method.

The parameters effect on the structural performance of damaged steel box beam using Taguchi method

“…Design errors, corrosion, lack of proper maintenance, substandard materials, fatigue damage and vehicle-caused accidental damage are considered as the major problems in the steel structures (Kim and Yoon 2010). Fatigue damage induces cracks in the tension flange of the girders and it is critical to the service life of the girders (May et al 2016;Zhu 2016;Fisher and Roy 2015). Corrosion reduces steel sections that can cause deterioration in steel structures.…”