Fracture mechanics and its application in the fatigue behavior of
reinforced welded hand-holes in aluminum light poles
Abstract
Fracture mechanics can be defined as a methodology that is used to
predict and diagnose failure of a part with some kind of existing crack
or flaw. These models can be used to aid in the examination of
laboratory experiments and possibly give an explanation into its fatigue
life. This study utilized AFGROW as the fracture mechanics software. All
models were used on a previous study conducted on aluminum light poles
containing hand-holes and reinforcement (when applicable). The ultimate
goal of this study was an attempt to replicate the laboratory results
from these previous studies and to gain a deeper understanding of the
failure modality. In total, eight fracture mechanics models were created
to achieve this goal. Of these models, three contained an initial break,
two had a beta correction added, one contained an open hole, and two
were modeled as a plate. From all of the fracture mechanics models,
models containing plates yielded the best results when it came to
replicating lab results. Some finite element analysis (FEA) in ABAQUS
was used in conjunction with the fracture mechanics models.