Modelling fatigue crack propagation in coped beams using XFEM

In the past years, the safety of steel railway bridges has been questioned due to the coped beam connection sensitivity to fatigue and fatigue crack appearance. To ensure the safety of these railway bridges, the propagation of the fatigue crack needs to be analysed by performing regular inspection on the bridges. The frequency of these is...

Fatigue crack propagation simulation of orthotropic bridge deck based on extended finite element method

Orthotropic Steel Decks (OSDs) are widely used in various types of steel bridges due to its benefits of light weight, high load bearing capacity and speedy construction. However, fatigue remains as the predominant problem for OSDs. Many researchers have investigated fatigue issues of welded joints through experiments but is not a cost-effective...

A Progressive Blended Fatigue Framework for FRPs

In general, damage models for Fibre-Reinforced Polymers (FRPs) can be divided into two categories: Continuum Damage Models (CDMs) and Fracture Mechanics Damage Models (FMDMs). Damage models within each of these categories are advantageous for different type of failure mechanisms. Therefore, it is of interest to develop a unified framework in...