FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF STEEL WELDED COVERPLATE INCLUDING COMPOSITE DOUBLERS

With the increasing focus on welded bridge members resulting in crack initiation and propagation, there is a large demand for creative solutions. One of these solutions includes the application of composite doublers over the critical weld. In order to establish an effective finite element analysis, models were created using ABAQUS (2007). Models were created to properly represent physical testing being done parallel to this study. These models represented the control specimen, consisting of a welded coverplate, and several composite doubler arrangements. The first composite doubler analyzed consisted of the smooth shape which was designed for easy transfer of stresses between composite and steel material. The next models used a rectilinear composite shape, which was designed to simplify the construction of these doublers, these models varied by the bond length on the top plate. Finally an analysis was conducted to evaluate the effect of the Young's modulus of the composite material. The results from each model were then compared and the most effective arrangement was stated