Numerical analysis of central mixed-mode cracking in steel plates repaired with CFRP materials

摘要

Finite element method (FEM) was adopted to study the fatigue properties of steel plates with central mixed-mode (I/II) crack repaired with carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets. To simulate crack propagation in repaired and un-repaired specimens, a script was written in Python for automatic modelling. The numerical results were compared with the experimental results, and they fitted well in terms of crack growth trajectories and fatigue propagation lives. Thereafter, different parameters such as the number of CFRP layers, CFRP width, CFRP modulus, and load application angle were considered to investigate CFRP repairing efficiency. Results demonstrated that FEM effectively simulated the fatigue performance of steel plates with mixed-mode crack. CFRP sheets can reduce the effective stress intensity factor (SIF) range to prolong the fatigue life of the cracked steel plate. The aforementioned parameters significantly affected the fatigue performance.