Application of fracture mechanics concepts to the failure of steel constructions

The failure behaviour of wide plates with different defect geometry was investigated experimentally and quantitatively described by FE-calculations based on material properties, which were determined with small-scale specimens. It is shown, that in the temperature range where brittle, elastic-plastic and fully plastic failure of the wide plates occurs, the fracture behaviour can be predicted sufficiently precisely based on fracture mechanics parameters in terms of the J-Integral. These predictions require an exact evaluation of the material properties, such as stress-strain-curve and critical fracture mechanics values and, on the other side, of the loading conditions calculated in terms of J_l.