Ductile cracking simulation procedure for welded joints under monotonic tension

Liang-Jiu Jia,Toyoki Ikai,Lan Kang,Hanbin Ge,Tomoya Kato 국제구조공학회 2016 Structural Engineering and Mechanics, An Int'l Jou Vol.60 No.1

A large number of welded steel moment-resisting framed (SMRF) structures failed due to brittle fracture induced by ductile fracture at beam-to-column connections during 1994 Northridge earthquake and 1995 Kobe (Hyogoken-Nanbu) earthquake. Extensive research efforts have been devoted to clarifying the mechanism of the observed failures and corresponding countermeasures to ensure more ductile design of welded SMRF structures, while limited research on the failure analysis of the ductile cracking was conducted due to lack of computational capacity and proper theoretical models. As the first step to solve this complicated problem, this paper aims to establish a straightforward procedure to simulate ductile cracking of welded joints under monotonic tension. There are two difficulties in achieving the aim of this study, including measurement of true stress-true strain data and ductile fracture parameters of different subzones in a welded joint, such as weld deposit, heat affected zone and the boundary between the two. Butt joints are employed in this study for their simple configuration. Both experimental and numerical studies on two types of butt joints are conducted. The validity of the proposed procedure is proved by comparison between the experimental and numerical results.

Effect of post weld treatment on cracking behaviors of beam-column connections in steel bridge piers

Liang-Jiu Jia,Hanbin Ge,Toshimitsu Suzuki 국제구조공학회 2014 Steel and Composite Structures, An International J Vol.17 No.5

A great number of moment-resisting steel structures collapsed due to ductile crack initiation at welded beam-column connections, followed by explosive brittle fracture in the Kobe (Hyogoken-Nanbu) earthquake in 1995. A series of experimental and numerical studies on cracking behaviors of beam-column connections in steel bridge piers were carried out by the authors’ team. This paper aims to study the effect of post weld treatment on cracking behaviors of the connections during a strong earthquake event. Experiments of three specimens with different weld finishes, i.e., as-welded, R-finish, and burr grinding, were conducted. The experimental results indicate that the instants of ductile crack initiation are greatly delayed for the specimens with R-finish and burr grinding finishes compared with the as-welded one. The strain concentration effect in the connection is also greatly reduced in the specimens with post weld treatment compared with the as-welded one, which was also verified in the tests.

Rotational capacity of H-shaped steel beams under cyclic pure bending

Liang-Jiu Jia,Yafeng Tian,Xianzhong Zhao,Siyuan Tian 국제구조공학회 2019 Steel and Composite Structures, An International J Vol.30 No.2

This paper presents experimental study on effects of width-to-thickness ratio and loading history on cyclic rotational capacity of H-shaped steel beams subjected to pure bending. Eight Class 3 and 4 H-shaped beams with large width-to-thickness ratios were tested under four different loading histories. The coupling effect of local buckling and cracking on cyclic rotational capacity of the specimens was investigated. It was found that loss of the load-carrying capacity was mainly induced by local buckling, and ductile cracking was a secondary factor. The width-to-thickness ratio plays a dominant effect on the cyclic rotational capacity, and the loading history also plays an important role. The cyclic rotational capacity can decrease significantly due to premature elasto-plastic local buckling induced by a number of preceding plastic reversals with relative small strain amplitudes. This result is mainly correlated with the decreasing tangent modulus of the structural steel under cyclic plastic loading. In addition, a theoretical approach to evaluate the cyclic rotational capacity of H-shaped beams with different width-to-thickness ratios was also proposed, which compares well with the experimental results.

Experimental study on seismic performance of partial penetration welded steel beam-column connections with different fillet radii

Hanbin Ge,Liang-Jiu Jia,Lan Kang,Toshimitsu Suzuki 국제구조공학회 2014 Steel and Composite Structures, An International J Vol.17 No.6

Full penetration welded steel moment-resisting frame (SMRF) structures with welded box sections are widely employed in steel bridges, where a large number of steel bridges have been in operation for over fifty years in Japan. Welding defects such as incomplete penetration at the beam-column connections of these existing SMRF steel bridge piers were observed during inspection. Previous experiments conducted by the authors' team indicate that gusset stiffeners (termed fillets in this study) at the beam-web-to-column-web joint of the beam-column connections may play an important role on the seismic performance of the connections. This paper aims to experimentally study the effect of the fillet radius on seismic performance of the connections with large welding defects. Four specimens with different sizes of fillet radii were loaded under quasi-static incremental cyclic loading, where different load-displacement relations and cracking behaviors were observed. The experimental results show that, as the size of the fillet radius increases, the seismic performance of the connections can be greatly improved.

Development of miniature bar-type structural fuses with cold formed bolted connections

Dongzhi Guan,Sen Yang,Liang-Jiu Jia,Zhengxing Guo 국제구조공학회 2020 Steel and Composite Structures, An International J Vol.34 No.1

A novel all-steel miniature bar-type structural fuse (MBSF) with cold formed bolted connections is developed in this study, which consists of a central energy dissipation core cut from a smooth round bar, an external confining tube and nuts. Three types of cross sections for the central energy dissipation core, i.e., triple-cut, double-cut and single-cut cross sections, were studied. Totally 18 specimens were axially tested under either symmetric or asymmetric cyclic loading histories, where the parameters such as cut cross sectional area ratio, length of the yielding portion and cross sectional type were investigated. Numerical simulation of 2 representative specimens were also conducted. An analytical model to evaluate the bending failure at the elastic portion was proposed, and a design method to avoid this failure mode was also presented. The experimental results show that the proposed MBSFs exhibit satisfactory hysteretic performance under both the two cyclic loading histories. Average strain values of 8% and 4% are found to be respectively suitable for designing the new MBSFs as the ultimate strain under the symmetric and asymmetric cyclic loadings.

Ultra-low cycle fatigue tests of Class 1 H-shaped steel beams under cyclic pure bending

Xianzhong Zhao,Yafeng Tian,Liang-Jiu Jia,Tao Zhang 국제구조공학회 2018 Steel and Composite Structures, An International J Vol.26 No.4

This paper presents experimental and numerical study on buckling behaviors and hysteretic performance of Class 1 H-shaped steel beam subjected to cyclic pure bending within the scope of ultra-low cycle fatigue (ULCF). A loading device was designed to achieve the pure bending loading condition and 4 H-shaped specimens with a small width-to-thickness ratio were tested under 4 different loading histories. The emphasis of this work is on the impacts induced by local buckling and subsequent ductile fracture. The experimental and numerical results indicate that the specimen failure is mainly induced by elasto-plastic local buckling, and is closely correlated with the plastic straining history. Compared with monotonic loading, the elasto-plastic local buckling can occur at a much smaller displacement amplitude due to a number of preceding plastic reversals with relative small strain amplitudes, which is mainly correlated with decreasing tangent modulus of the material under cyclic straining. Ductile fracture is found to be a secondary factor leading to deterioration of the load-carrying capacity. In addition, a new ULCF life evaluation method is proposed for the specimens using the concept of energy decomposition, where the cumulative plastic energy is classified into two categories as isotropic hardening and kinematic hardening correlated. A linear correlation between the two energies is found and formulated, which compares well with the experimental results.

Full-range plasticity of novel high-performance low-cost stainless steel QN1803

Yiyi Zhou,Kim Eng Chouery,Jiang-Yue Xie,Zhan Shu,Liang-Jiu Jia 국제구조공학회 2020 Steel and Composite Structures, An International J Vol.35 No.6

This paper aims to investigate cyclic plasticity of a new type of high-performance austenitic stainless steel with both high strength and high ductility. The new stainless steel termed as QN1803 has high nitrogen and low nickel, which leads to reduction of cost ranging from 15% to 20%. Another virtue of the new material is its high initial yield strength and tensile strength. Its initial yield strength can be 40% to 50% higher than conventional stainless steel S30408. Elongation of QN1803 can also achieve approximately 50%, which is equivalent to the conventional one. QN1803 also has a corrosion resistance as good as that of S30408. In this paper, both experimental and numerical studies on the new material were conducted. Full-range true stress-true strain relationships under both monotonic and cyclic loading were obtained. A cyclic plasticity model based on the Chaboche model was developed, where a memory surface was newly added and the isotropic hardening rule was modified. A user-defined material subroutine was written, and the proposed cyclic plasticity model can well evaluate full-range hysteretic properties of the material under various loading histories.