Crack detection via strain measurements in fatigue testing
Journal article, 2021

Fatigue cracks have appeared as a significant issue for joints and connections in existing steel structures in the last decades. Therefore, those are a major inspection and maintenance matter for any steel structure's operator. This emphasises the importance of using a reliable detection method to determine the crack size and assessing the severity of such a crack on the structural integrity of a structure. In this article, the effectiveness of strain measurement in detecting fatigue cracks in transversal non‐load carrying welded attachment subjected to out of plane axial loading is studied. Numerical analysis and experimental investigations allowed to correlate the decrease in strain measured by attached gauges to the crack depth at the weld toe. In addition, different strain evolution patterns were found during fatigue testing, and the fracture surfaces of the specimens were observed to interpret these patterns. Moreover, the crack position with respect to the weld toe surface was predicted via strain measurements.

crack detection

strain gauge

transversal attachment

fatigue crack

fatigue testing

Author

Hassan al-Karawi

Chalmers, Architecture and Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering

Rüdiger Ulrich Franz von Bock und Polach

University of Hamburg

Mohammad al-Emrani

Chalmers, Architecture and Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering

Strain

0039-2103 (ISSN) 1475-1305 (eISSN)

Vol. 57 4 e12384

LifeExt - Livslängdsförlängning för befintliga stålbroar

VINNOVA (2017-02670), 2017-06-08 -- 2019-12-31.

Swedish Transport Administration (TRV 2018/27547), 2018-05-15 -- 2020-11-30.

Subject Categories

Mechanical Engineering

Materials Engineering

Civil Engineering

Driving Forces

Sustainable development

Areas of Advance

Building Futures (2010-2018)

Life Science Engineering (2010-2018)

Materials Science

Infrastructure

Chalmers Materials Analysis Laboratory

DOI

10.1111/str.12384

More information

Latest update

6/13/2022