Plasticity induced fatigue crack growth retardation model for steel elements reinforced by composite patch

Fatigue tests on notched steel plates reinforced by composite patch showed that the application of carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) strips with pretension of the overlays prior to bonding. This resulted in a significant amount of additional fatigue life. In particular, the pre-tension produces a compressive field in the steel plate which reduces the stress ratio that enhances crack growth retardation. The fatigue crack propagation rate is postulated to be a function of the effective strain energy density factor range. Fatigue crack growth data showed that standard crack growth retardation model cannot be used to evaluate the minimum effective stress. Hence, an ad hoc plasticity model is introduced and validated using experimental results. The proposed technique is an extension of the well know Newman’s model. The bridging effect due to the reinforcing strips is analytically modeled in order to estimate the reduction of crack opening displacement and finally the magnification of the crack growth retardation. Numerical and experimental results match well and show a significant influence of the pre-tension level on the expected fatigue crack growth rate of a reinforced steel plate.