Fracture analysis in a steel plate

Abstract

This research study is carried out to investigate the ultimate strength of a steel plate under the effect of an ice load. Fracture onset is predicted by numerical and analytical analyses, and compared with experimental results. The test setup is designed based on theoretical and FEA models. In the theoretical solution, a model is developed to predict fracture onset in a steel plate. LS-DYNA is used in simulating the fracture onset. The numerical and theoretical results are compared with experimental results. It has been shown that the theoretical solution provides an accurate prediction of fracture onset with a critical strain level of 20% for mild steel plate and that FEA provides more accurate results in comparison to the theoretical solution for high tensile strength steel plates.