TY - JOUR

T1 - Numerical Evaluation of Fatigue Crack Growth of Structural Steels Using Energy Release Rate with VCCT

AU - Busari, Yusuf O.

AU - Manurung, Yupiter H.P.

AU - Leitner, Martin

AU - Shuaib-Babata, Yusuf L.

AU - Mat, Muhd F.

AU - Ibrahim, Hassan K.

AU - Simunek, David

AU - Sulaiman, Mohd Shahar

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

PY - 2022/3/3

Y1 - 2022/3/3

N2 - This research presents the numerical evaluation of fatigue crack growth of structural steels S355 and S960 based on Paris’ law parameters (C and m) that are experimentally determined with a single edge notched tension (SENT) specimen using optical and crack gauge measurements on an electromotive resonance machine at constant amplitude load. The sustainable technique is replacing destructive, time-consuming and expensive approaches in structural integrity. The crack propagation is modelled using the 3D finite element method (FEM) with adaptive remeshing of tetrahedral elements along with the crack initiator elements provided in simulation software for crack propagation based on linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM). The stress intensity is computed based on the evaluation of energy release rates according to Irwin’s crack closure integral with applied cyclic load of 62.5 MPa, 100 MPa and 150 MPa and stress ratios of R = 0 and 0.1. In order to achieve optimized mesh size towards load cycle and computational time, mesh and re-mesh sensitivity analysis is conducted. The results indicate that the virtual crack closure technique VCCT-based 3D FEM shows acceptable agreement compared to the experimental investigation with the percentage error up to 7.9% for S355 and 12.8% for S960 structural steel.

AB - This research presents the numerical evaluation of fatigue crack growth of structural steels S355 and S960 based on Paris’ law parameters (C and m) that are experimentally determined with a single edge notched tension (SENT) specimen using optical and crack gauge measurements on an electromotive resonance machine at constant amplitude load. The sustainable technique is replacing destructive, time-consuming and expensive approaches in structural integrity. The crack propagation is modelled using the 3D finite element method (FEM) with adaptive remeshing of tetrahedral elements along with the crack initiator elements provided in simulation software for crack propagation based on linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM). The stress intensity is computed based on the evaluation of energy release rates according to Irwin’s crack closure integral with applied cyclic load of 62.5 MPa, 100 MPa and 150 MPa and stress ratios of R = 0 and 0.1. In order to achieve optimized mesh size towards load cycle and computational time, mesh and re-mesh sensitivity analysis is conducted. The results indicate that the virtual crack closure technique VCCT-based 3D FEM shows acceptable agreement compared to the experimental investigation with the percentage error up to 7.9% for S355 and 12.8% for S960 structural steel.

KW - Crack growth

KW - Finite element model

KW - Fracture mechanic

KW - Structural steel

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85126318362&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/app12052641

DO - 10.3390/app12052641

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85126318362

VL - 12.2022

JO - Applied Sciences : open access journal

JF - Applied Sciences : open access journal

SN - 2076-3417

IS - 5

M1 - 2641

ER -