Numerical simulation for fatigue crack propagation in steel beams with welded transverse stiffeners

Abstract

The purposes of this study are to numerically simulate the 3D in-plane fatigue crack propagation in steel I-girders with welded transverse stiffeners and to predict the fatigue life of steel beams with different initial crack sizes and girder geometries, such as web-gap lengths and transverse stiffener dimensions. The FRANC3D software was used to perform calculation using the finite element analysis. Many cases were conducted and the results indicated that the propagation of very small crack required very high number of load cycles and the initial crack with smaller web-gap length had a higher value of stress intensity factor which shortened the fatigue life, whereas the thinner transverse stiffener had a tendency to decrease the fatigue life of steel I-beams.