Date of Graduation

5-2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Civil Engineering

Advisor/Mentor

Prinz, Gary

Committee Member

Murray, Cameron

Second Committee Member

Zhang, Wen

Abstract

Fatigue cracks are cracks that result from repeated loading over time, often following millions of loading cycles. Fatigue cracks occur even if the applied load is not large enough to cause material yield. Once a fatigue crack initiates, resulting stress concentrations at the crack tip often make it difficult to arrest the growth of the crack. In order to prevent growth and propagation of fatigue cracks within structural components, it is necessary to alter the stress condition at the crack tip. Fatigue cracks in steel structures resulting from multiaxial loading and or geometry conditions that result in complex states of stress [1] can be particularly challenging to address, as many existing crack mitigation approaches (which aim to alter the crack-tip stress) often target uniaxial stress conditions. The objective of this research project is to observe how cracks initiate and develop in notched steel plates under different multi-axial stress states, and to assess the effectiveness of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) orientations as a retrofit strategy to delay fatigue crack growth.

Keywords

Fatigue Tests

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