Arresting fatigue cracks in steel plates using prestressed bonded Fe-SMA strips

Analytical prediction and experimental validation

authored by

Lingzhen Li, Sizhe Wang, Tao Chen, Eleni Chatzi, Hossein Heydarinouri, Elyas Ghafoori

Abstract

Bonded iron-based shape memory alloy (Fe-SMA) strengthening has shown great potential in fatigue strengthening for steel structures. However, there is a lack of a comprehensive model for analysing the fatigue behaviour of systems strengthened with prestressed bonded Fe-SMA. This study proposes the first analytical model, integrating a prestress analysis and fatigue analysis, to predict fatigue crack arrest in steel plates strengthened with prestressed bonded Fe-SMA strips. Four steel plates, each featuring a central through-thickness crack, were strengthened using bonded Fe-SMA strips, and subsequently, tested under fatigue loading after generating prestress via heating and cooling. The proposed model succeeded in predicting (i) the fatigue crack arrest at certain load levels and (ii) onset of crack propagation at increased load levels.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Steel Construction
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geodetic Science

External Organisation(s)

Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Science and Technology (EMPA)
ETH Zurich
Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
Tongji University

Type

Article

Journal

Thin-walled structures

Volume

210

ISSN

0263-8231

Publication date

05.2025

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Civil and Structural Engineering, Building and Construction, Mechanical Engineering

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2025.112971 (Access: Open)