Evaluation of cyclic fracture in perforated beams using micromechanical fatigue model

It is common practice to use Reduced Web Beam Sections (RWBS) in steel moment resisting frames. Perforation of beam web in these members may cause stress and strain concentration around the opening area and facilitate ductile fracture under cyclic loading. This paper presents a numerical study on the cyclic fracture of these structural components. The considered connections are configured as T-shaped assemblies with beams of elongated circular perforations. The failure of specimens under Ultra Low Cycle Fatigue (ULCF) condition is simulated using Cyclic Void Growth Model (CVGM) which is a micromechanics based fracture model. In each model, CVGM fracture index is calculated based on the stress and strain time histories and then models with different opening configurations are compared based on the calculated fracture index. In addition to the global models, sub-models with refined mesh are used to evaluate fracture index around the beam to column weldment. Modeling techniques are validated using data from previous experiments. Results show that as the perforation size increases, opening corners experience greater fracture index. This is while as the opening size increases the maximum observed fracture index at the connection welds decreases. However, the initiation of fracture at connection welds occurs at lower drift angles compared to opening corners. Finally, a probabilistic framework is applied to CVGM in order to account for the uncertainties existing in the prediction of ductile fracture and results are discussed.