ANALYSIS OF STRESS INTESITY FACTORS FOR CRACKED I-BEAMS WITH NON-OVERLAPPING CRACK SURFACES

Abstract

The physically acceptable analysis of stress intensity factors (SIFs) for cracked steel I-beams was presented in this research. The finite element method was used to calculate the stress intensity factors of two-tip web cracks in steel I-beams with non-overlapping behavior, i.e., crack surfaces were not allowed to overlap. For the center-cracked infinite and finite-width plates under bending, previous studies indicated that the SIF solutions at the tension-side crack tips are not conservative if non-overlapping behavior is not considered. Three-dimensional finite element analyses based on linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) were performed and verified with SIF results from the non-overlapping center-cracked finite-width plates (weight function method) and the overlapping two-tip web crack in I-beams under bending (finite element method). Furthermore, a numerical analysis obtained from the previous finite element solution of overlapping cracked I-beams was then carried out to verify the present finite element model. The effects of parameters including the length of I-beams, magnitude of applied moment, web crack length, flange-to-web area ratio and crack eccentricity on the non-overlapping SIF solutions at tension-side crack tip were also examined in the study.