A stress-weighted damage model for ductile fracture initiation in structural steel under cyclic loading and generalized stress states

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Abstract/Contents

Abstract
Fracture in steel structures represents a critical limit state in evaluating the safety and resiliency of civil infrastructure during earthquakes. This importance was demonstrated by the widespread fractures observed in older steel connections during the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, and in modern connections during the 2011 Christchurch Earthquake. The application of traditional crack-tip fracture mechanics to structural design provisions has successfully delayed the onset of Northridge-type brittle fracture. However, the extreme strain capacity in modern ductile connections increases the relevance of ductile fracture. Recent developments in 'local' fracture models have proven successful at predicting ductile fracture under many conditions. However, the application of these models has been limited due to their limited scope and difficulty in evaluation of the necessary continuum parameters. The current objective in the structural engineering community of replacing full-scale experiments with advanced finite element simulations require accurate models and calibration techniques to evaluate cyclic plasticity and fracture predictions. Motivated by the above requirements, the objectives of the present study are to (1) further the understanding of the ductile fracture mechanism for all stress, (2) develop robust methods for the calibration of constitutive parameters and local fracture models in highly plastic materials, and (3) to develop a new damage-based model to predict ductile fracture under all relevant structural conditions states (especially those with low stress triaxiality). These objectives are accomplished through an extensive experimental program, including 48 monotonic and cyclic specimens in geometries designed to effectively interrogate the fracture criteria. A total of six specimen designs are tested, including three original designs developed for the current study. Complementary finite element analyses are used to evaluate the local fracture criteria, and micrographic examination and void cell simulations provide insight into the fracture mechanism at varying stress states. The data from these experiments and the derived fracture model demonstrate the importance of the deviatoric stress state, in addition to the hydrostatic pressure, in the fracture ductility of steel. Specifically, material in a plane strain condition is found to exhibit about 50\% more fracture ductility than material in an axisymmetric stress condition. Through meta-analysis of test data from this and previous studies, ductile fracture is found to be prohibited under negative (compressive) hydrostatic pressure.

Description

Type of resource text
Form electronic; electronic resource; remote
Extent 1 online resource.
Publication date 2013
Issuance monographic
Language English

Creators/Contributors

Associated with Smith, Christopher M. (Christopher Matthew)
Associated with Stanford University, Civil & Environmental Engineering Department.
Primary advisor Deierlein, Gregory G. (Gregory Gerard), 1959-
Thesis advisor Deierlein, Gregory G. (Gregory Gerard), 1959-
Thesis advisor Kanvinde, Amit M
Thesis advisor Lepech, Michael
Advisor Kanvinde, Amit M
Advisor Lepech, Michael

Subjects

Genre Theses

Bibliographic information

Statement of responsibility Christopher M. Smith.
Note Submitted to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2013.
Location electronic resource

Access conditions

Copyright
© 2013 by Christopher Matthew Smith
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).

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