Fracture tests and numerical analysis of structural steel notched plates

Abstract

The generalized hydrostatic yield model(GHYM) and the corresponding fracture criterion originally proposed were verified, based on an extensive experimental program which included 25 notched plate specimens loaded under monotonically increasing and remote tension. The numerical simulation was implemented for fracture tests of structural steel notched plates through the parametric design language (APDL) together with the user programmable features (UPFs) available in the general-purpose finite element package ANSYS. The results show that the crack initiates at the curved edge of the notch and forms a through-thickness flaw, which leads subsequently to very rapid growth across the remaining width of the plate. The 3-D stress field near the notch of the plate specimens prior to fracture, which was computed from a large-deformation analysis using the GHYM, proves the accuracy of the proposed fracture criterion.