Investigation of tensile, fatigue crack growth behavior and prediction model of EH36 welded joints
Molin Su, WenCai Liu, Hong Yan, Le Kang, Yue Zhao, Chao Feng, Yongdian Han, Lei Zhao
Abstract
This paper presented a comprehensive investigation of the tensile properties and fatigue crack growth behavior of EH36 steel joints. Tensile deformation and fracture mechanisms were elucidated using digital image correlation (DIC). For the fatigue property, DIC was developed to predict the growth rate ( da/dN ), providing insights into crack propagation behavior under dynamic loading conditions. Additionally, a novel approach for predicting fatigue damage ( D ) based on the maximum strain ( ε max ) characterized by DIC was established, enabling the assessment of fatigue damage states in EH36 structural components across various stress ratios ( R ). However, DIC showed limitations in addressing initial short crack propagation description, which suggested the need for alternative methods to effectively tackle this challenge.