Use of CFRP Overlays to Strengthen Welded Connections under Fatigue Loading

Underwater fatigue repair of steel panels using carbon fiber reinforced polymers

“…Previously conducted studies show reduction in crack propagation rate when CFRP strips are either covering the crack fully or when placed ahead of the crack tips (Wu et al 2012;Alemdar et al 2012;Tavakkolizadeh and Saadatmanesh 2003). When CFRP is attached at the crack front, where the local stresses are higher than the nominal stresses, it reduces the effect of higher local stresses by providing additional stiffness, locally, which limits the crack mouth opening.…”

“…There have been various studies performed to evaluate the increase in fatigue life of steel structures using fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) or CFRP (Tavakkolizadeh and Saadatmanesh 2003;Alemdar et al 2012;Wu et al 2012;Yu et al 2014). The majority of the studies were conducted on concrete structures with limited field applications (Shaat et al 2003).…”

“…Findings showed that the fatigue life of the retrofitted specimens was between 2.6 to 3.4 times that of the unretrofitted specimens for stress ranges of 345 to 207 MPa, respectively. This improvement is equivalent to upgrading the detail from the AASHTO (2010) category D to category C. Alemdar et al (2012) studied the effectiveness of CFRP overlays on welded connections under fatigue loading. The CFRP-retrofitted, pre-cracked specimen sustained an additional 2.88 million cycles after crack initiation without any measurable crack growth.…”

Effect of FRP Material Properties on Chord SCFs of an FRP-Strengthened Offshore Tubular T-Joint under Brace Axial Loading

“…Moreover, its potentially high overall durability, light weight, superior strengthto-weight ratio, tailorability and high specific performance attributes make it to be easier for application in areas which conventional materials may encounter deficiencies. [32] experimentally and analytically investigated fatigue performance of cover-plate specimens with CFRP reinforced welded connections. A numerical investigation on the failure pattern, ultimate static strength and detailed behavior of GFRP strengthened steel tubular T-joints under axial Brace compressive loading was performed by Lesani et al [15].…”

FRP wrapping for the rehabilitation of Circular Hollow Section (CHS) tubular steel connections

“…Strengthening of T-joints of rectangular hollow steel section (HSS) chords against web buckling induced by transverse compression loading of welded brace members by bonded FRP plates has been investigated [21,22]. Experimental tests and analytical simulations have been carried out to investigate the fatigue performance of coverplate specimens in which the welded connections were reinforced with Carbon-Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) overlays [23]. Behavior of CFRP strengthened butt-welded very high strength (VHS) circular steel tubes has been assessed [24].…”