FRACTURE MECHANICS ANALYSIS OF CRACKED METALLIC PLATES REPAIRED WITH FRP

There are several advantages of adhesively bonded fiberreinforced polymer (FRP) laminates used for the deteriorated metallicmembers over thetraditional retrofit methods susceptible to fatigue crack initiation. Thethree dimensional ``solid-spring-shell element'' finite element model ispresented in the paper. In the FEM model, the metalic plate is modeled as asolid element, FRP is modelled as a shell element and the spring elementis usedto model the adhesion between the metalic plate and FRP. Linear fracturemechanics analysis of cracked metallic plates repaired with FRP iscarried out. Influencing factors on the stress intensity factors at crack tipsare discussed. It is shown that the increases in the elastic modulus orthe thickness of FRP improve the effectiveness of strengtheningsignificantly.