Carbon Fibre-Reinforced Polymer

Structures and Buildings
Volume 169 Issue SB2

Carbon fibre-reinforced polymer for the
repair of fatigue cracks in steel structures
May, Roy, Lang and Khan
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers

Structures and Buildings 169 February 2016 Issue SB2
Pages 141155 http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/stbu.15.00053
Paper 1500053
Received 16/04/2015
Accepted 12/05/2015
Published online 08/08/2015
Keywords: computational mechanics/fatigue/steel structures
ICE Publishing: All rights reserved
Carbon fibre-reinforced polymer

for the repair of fatigue cracks
in steel structures
1
&
Ian M. May BEng, MSc, PhD, CEng, FICE, FIStructE
3
&
Chris Lang MBA, MSc, PhD, CEng, MIMechE
Professor, Retired, Previously Professor of Civil Engineering, School of

the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK
2
&
Michael Roy PhD
Doctor, Retired, Previously Research Associate, School of the Built

Environment, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK
4
&
Rashid A. Khan BEng, MSc, PhD
Doctor, Previously Senior Engineer, QinetiQ, Rosyth,

Dunfermline, UK
Professor, Department of Earthquake Engineering, NED University of

Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan
Fatigue cracking can occur in any complex steel structure. The user is generally unaware until the crack reaches a length
that can be observed with the naked eye. At this time repair is needed: in some situations the repair may not require
welding and can be relatively easily carried out. Carbon composite patches applied over the crack represent a possible
choice. This paper describes an experimental investigation of the fatigue crack growth rate in welded steel details with
carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) repairs. Three types of specimen were tested, including a cruciform section and a
longitudinally stiffened plate. Both plain steel unpatched specimens and patched specimens repaired with CFRP
composite to extend the fatigue life were tested. The test results were used to validate the three-dimensional (3D) finiteelement models, (FEM), which were used to predict crack growth in both the plain steel and repaired plates. The analysis
was based on linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) and the Paris law and was carried out using Abaqus in conjunction
with Zencrack. The FEM were found to give an accurate predictions of the crack growth rate in both the unpatched
specimens and patched specimens. It is concluded that the patching technique using CFRP can give a useful extension of
life and that the finite-element analysis described could be used in practice to design such repairs with confidence.
Notation
C
da/dN
dG/da
Ei
G
m
N
Q
R
U
K
Keff
ij
1.
material constant
crack growth per cycle
constant energy release rate
Youngs modulus along axis i
strain energy release rate
material constant
number of cycles
factor dependent upon the material yield stress
stress ratio, minimum cyclic stress to maximum
cyclic stress
factor to take account of stress range
cyclic stress intensity factor
effective stress intensity factor
Poisson ratio that corresponds to a contraction in
direction j when an extension is applied in direction i
Introduction
During the life of a steel structure fatigue cracks may occur that,
after assessment, indicate that repair is necessary. There are a
number of techniques that can be used. However, the use of

bonded composite patches to repair such cracks, which was pioneered by the Admiralty Research Establishment (ARE) for the
Royal Navy for use in ships (Allan et al., 1988), has a number of
advantages. In particular, the ability to apply the patches without
the use of heat, for example as required in welding, can lead to
both cost savings and less onerous safety requirements. Some
testing has been reported on welded joints (Smith and Smith,
1983; Turton et al., 2005; Yuen and Taheri, 2007), but most of
the experimental studies reported (Dalzel-Job et al., 2003; Liu
et al., 2009; Ratwani, 1977; Schubbe and Mall, 1999) are on
repaired flat steel plates. If such patches are to be used in practice
then a design procedure is required that will result in economic
and safe predictions of the future life of the patched repair.
This paper describes an experimental study to develop practical procedures for composite patch repair of steel structures
having weld details, together with the development of threedimensional (3D) finite-element models (FEM) that are capable
of predicting crack growths for such repairs. The fatigue life
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141


predictions of the 3D FEM are based on the Paris equation

and linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) and use mean
material constants (Yazdani and Albrecht, 1989).
was chosen following from the results of FE analyses carried

out by Lang (2008) on CFRP-repaired steel sections, which
showed that as the patch thickness increases both the average
SIF in the plate and the stresses in the composite reduce and
hence the crack growth is reduced. However, increasing the
thickness of the patch beyond a certain value, the reduction in
the SIF becomes less significant and tends to a limiting value.
The FE analysis results suggested that a thickness between
510 mm provided the maximum benefit for a single-sided
repaired cruciform specimen.
2.
Description of the composite patching

technique and review of previous work
A review of the composite patching technique has been

given in Roy et al. (2009) and the paraphrased paragraph that
follows is taken from that paper.
Adhesive bonding of joints between panels made from aluminium and composite materials has been used for a number
of years in both the aircraft and motor industries. In recent
years, this technique has also begun to be used in structural
repair. Early work (Adams and Peppiatt, 1974; Golland and
Reissener, 1944) focused on the variation of stresses in the
adhesive, particularly the shear and peel stresses. These were
found to vary along the bond length: the highest levels of both
the peel and shear stresses occurred at the joint ends, reducing
to a very low value at the joint centre. Hart-Smith (1973),
assuming that the adhesive could permit a high degree of
plastic strain, proposed that joints be designed such that the
strength of the adhesive joint is greater than the parent
material. Allowing a limited amount of plastic deformation of
the adhesive at each end of the joint, and making an empirical
allowance for durability, a minimum bond length was recommended based upon the thickness and material properties
of the adhesive and adherends.
The technique of using bonded composite patches for structural repair has been reviewed in Roy et al. (2009). The repair
of an infinitely wide cracked plate with double symmetric composite patches was studied by Rose (1981) using an inclusion
analogy. It was found that the stress intensity increased with
crack growth but a crack length was reached where the stress
intensity and the stress in the composite tended towards a constant value. Belhouari et al. (2004) used a numerical analysis
to study the effect of the composite thickness for double and
single patch repairs on thin aluminium plate. It was found that
above a certain patch thickness the stress intensity factor (SIF)
also tended towards a constant value, implying that any
further thickness of the patch was of little value.
Although a symmetric, double-sided repair is the most effective
method to reinforce the cracked component in many practical
repairs, an asymmetric, single-sided repair is often adopted in
which composite patches are applied to only one side of the
panel. This is because often only one face of a structure to be
repaired is accessible or it is only permissible for one side of
the structure to be patched, for example because of the
material stored on the remote face. One further significant
difference to the patches used in the tests described in Roy
et al. (2009) and Dalzel-Job et al. (2003) is the use in the
current tests of a much reduced thickness of composite patch.
The thickness of the carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP)
142
3.
Test programme objectives
The tests described in this paper sought to build on the body

of work described in the above review, primarily by investigating patch repairs on more complex geometries and welded
details which better represent the features of in-service repairs.
A secondary aim was to confirm the previous analytical predictions (Lang, 2008) that 5 mm thick patches would provide
an effective repair.
4.
Preparation and testing of specimens
4.1 Fatigue test specimens

The test specimens can be divided into two groups. The first
group comprised specimens, termed centrally cracked specimens, having practical weld details and had cracks which
initiated from the centre of the plate. The second group of
specimens, termed edgeedge cracked specimens, were flat steel
plates with cracks which initiated from the edge.
The centrally cracked specimens were fabricated from 10 mm
thick Lloyds grade E carbon steel plates. Two sets of specimens were tested, each set comprised an unpatched and a
CRFP-patched specimen. In order to initiate the fatigue crack
a fully through-thickness crack was introduced either by spark
erosion (for the centrally cracked plates) or by a fine saw cut
(for the edge-cracked plates). Further details of the specimens
are given later and in Figures 14.
The specimens were tested in an Instron 8805 twin pillar
fatigue-testing machine, with a maximum cyclic tensile stress
of 45 MPa at a minimum cyclic stress to maximum cyclic stress
ratio, R, of 01 at 6 Hz until failure occurred. A travelling
microscope mounted on a vernier scale was used to record the
crack growths against the number of cycles, Figure 1. In the
unpatched specimen crack growth was measured on both faces.
For the CFRP-patched specimens, the crack growth was
measured on the unpatched surfaces.
The tests were performed to ASTM E 647-00 (ASTM, 2000),
Standard test method for measurement of fatigue crack
growth rates. The material crack growth rate constants were
then determined from a moving 7-point trend line in accordance with ASTM E 647-00 (ASTM, 2000), Appendix XI,
Section XI.2, Incremental polynomial method.


Centre of
mouse-hole:
70 mm wide
20 mm deep
750
1000 mm
Plate height
100 mm
70
120 mm
notch
at weld
35
Stiffener
welded from
10 mm plate:
70 mm high
35 mm wide
500
(a)
(b)
Figure 1. Centre-cracked rib-stiffened specimen (a) without patch

and (b) with patch applied (May et al., 2009)
4.2 Centrally cracked specimens with welded details

For the centrally cracked specimens (May et al., 2009), two of
each of the two sets having practical weld details were
fabricated. The first type of specimen was a continuous plate

of 500 mm wide, 1000 mm long and 10 mm thick with stiffeners welded on each side, one of the stiffeners extending to only
143


Weld to be
ground flat
Plate height
200 mm, 10 mm
thick
500 mm
500 mm
500
Notch
(120 mm)
at weld toe
(a)
(b)
Figure 2. Centre-cracked cruciform specimen (a) without patch

and (b) in test machine, with patch applied (May et al., 2009)
half the plate height, Figure 1. A mouse-hole was included in

the continuous stiffener at mid-height. The second specimen
was a cruciform with a continuous longitudinal plate having
the same dimensions as above to which two secondary plates
were welded, Figure 2. All welds were 10 mm leg length fillet
welds according to a standard naval welding procedure. An
initial starter crack, 120 mm long (2a) and fully through the
thickness, was spark eroded at the centre of each of the
specimens.
One of each of the unpatched welded specimens was fatigue
tested until failure occurred. In the second of each of the specimens the crack was allowed to grow to a total crack length of
approximately 160 mm, they were then repaired by applying
CFRP patches on one side. These uni-directional pre-preg
carbon fibre reinforced epoxy patches having a thickness of
5 mm were designed and implemented by QinetiQ using the
procedures as described in Dalzel-Job et al. (2003) and Turton
et al. (2005). In each case the patches were applied with the
primary fibre direction perpendicular to the crack.
144
In the repaired cruciform specimen the patch covered the crack

and was bonded to both the main and secondary plates,
making a right angle, Figure 2. The patch in the stiffened specimen was straight and applied on the face on which the stiffener
extended only half way along the plate. After patching and
curing, the specimens were fatigue tested until failure.
4.3 Flat edge-cracked specimens
The three plain edge-cracked specimens, EC-1, EC-2 and EC-3,
were 500 mm wide, 1000 mm long and 10 mm thick, Figure 3.
The starter edge cracks were formed by hand sawing to a length
of 58 mm, Figure 3. At the start of the each test, the edge cracks
were grown to approximately 60 mm to develop a sharp crack.
The initial crack length of 60 mm is half the initial crack length
in the cruciform and rib-stiffened specimens.
EC-2 and EC-3 were fatigue tested to failure. Specimen
was patch-repaired, after the crack had grown to 90 mm
adhesively bonded 158 mm thick, bi-directional carbon
epoxy pre-preg lamina with a woven cross-ply (0/90)
EC-1
using
fibrefibre


Initial crack
Figure 3. Edge-cracked specimen in Instron machine (Khan,

2010)
orientation, Figure 4. This patch thickness provided the same

stiffness as that of the uni-directional CFRP used in the repair
of the centrally cracked cruciform and stiffened specimens.
After patching the specimen was fatigue tested to failure.
Figure 9 shows the crack growths in the unpatched

and patch-repaired edge cracked specimens. It can be seen
that the crack growth rate in EC-1 was somewhat
faster than that in EC-2 and EC-3 before the patch was
applied.
4.4 Test results for un-patched specimens

Figures 5 and 6 show the half-crack growth (i.e. the growth of
one crack tip outwards from the centre-line) for the unpatched
and patched centrally cracked specimens. It can be seen from
Figure 6 that the crack growth was faster for the unpatched
rib-stiffened specimen which failed at approximately 790 000
cycles, Table 1, with a total crack length, 2a, of 407 mm.
The unpatched cruciform specimen failed at approximately
1 076 000 cycles, Table 1, with a total crack length of 399 mm,
Figure 5.
4.5 Test results for composite patched specimens

Figure 5 shows there is an increase from 108 million cycles in
the unpatched cruciform specimen to 144 million cycles in
the patched cruciform specimen at a crack length of 400 mm.
This clearly demonstrates that, for the cruciform specimen, the
composite patch was effective in reducing the rate of crack
growth and hence increasing the life of the specimen. No
de-bonding was observed of the composite from either the
main steel plate or the secondary steel plate. A similar surface
crack was observed for the patch-repaired cruciform specimen
as observed for the unpatched cruciform specimen.
The crack observed on the face of the unpatched cruciform

specimen tended to move away from the secondary plate as
it grew, Figure 7. A straight crack was observed in the ribstiffened plate, Figure 8, and no cracks were visible along the
circumference of the mouse-hole.
A comparison of the crack growth in the unpatched and

patched rib-stiffened specimens is shown in Figure 6. The test
was stopped after 15 million cycles when the total crack length
was 332 mm. The substantial decrease in the rate of crack
145


Unpatched face
Patch face
350 mm
2435 mm
(from centre line)
350
mm
90 mm
crack
length
2435 mm
(from centre line)
487 mm
(from edge)
500 mm
(a)
(b)
(c)
Figure 4. Edge-cracked specimen repaired with bidirectional CFRP

patch (a) patched face, showing fibre lay-up direction,
(b) un-patched face and (c) side view (Khan, 2010)
growth indicates that the stresses in the plate has re-distributed

such that most of the load was being taken by the stiffener and
patch and the load in the remaining ligaments of the plate was
relatively small. A similar surface crack was observed for the
patch-repaired rib-stiffened specimen as observed for the
unpatched rib-stiffened specimen.
The crack in the composite patched edge crack specimen was
allowed to grow to the edge of the plate, Figure 10, such that
the crack extended throughout the steel section. At this stage
the composite showed no signs of distress or delimitation. A
further 4000 cycles were then applied, to determine if the composite patch was capable of taking the total applied load. The
composite continued to take the load.
The test results for the repaired edge crack specimens show
that the patch was effective in increasing the fatigue life and
was capable of taking the stress even after the failure of the
specimen.
Table 2 shows crack growth rates in the patch-repaired
edge-cracked specimen, which remains almost linear until the
failure. When compared to EC-2 and EC-3 specimens, the
repaired fatigued life shows an increase of about three times
the fatigue life of the unpatched edge-cracked specimen,
Table 2.
146
5.
Analysis
The experimental results for the unpatched cruciform, rib-stiffened and the plain plate specimens were used to validate the
3D FEM. The 3D FEM were then used to predict the crack
growths of the CFRP-patched specimens.
In addition, to aid validation, the crack growth rates were also
predicted for the unpatched cruciform and edge-cracked specimens using standard stress intensity (Janssen et al., 2004) solutions and Equation 2. A spreadsheet was developed for this
analysis and the predictions from this analysis are shown as
P-Eq on Figures 5 and 9.
To predict the crack growth, a fatigue analysis using LEFM
was carried out on both the unpatched and the patched cruciform specimens using the FEM. The Abaqus (2007), FE
program was used in conjunction with Zencrack (2007), to
generate the cracked mesh and to predict the crack growth.
Four models were created for the cruciform plate (Khan,
2010)
&
&
unpatched plate with no fillet weld and the crack 10 mm

away from the edge of the secondary plate, Figure 11
unpatched plate with no fillet weld and the crack 5 mm
away from the edge of the secondary plate


300
Unpatched-FE (crack 10 mm away)
Unpatched-Exp
Patch-Exp.
Patch-FEA (crack 10 mm away)
Patched
FEA crack 10 mm away
P-eq
250
Unpatched
FEA crack 10 mm away
Unpatched
experiment
200
Patched
experiment
150
Patch applied
Crack growth, da: mm
P-eq
100
50
0
0
250
500
750
Number of cycles
1000
1250
1500
(103)
Figure 5. Comparison of experimental results with 3D FEM

results (half-crack growth) for the unpatched and patch-repaired
cruciform specimens (May et al., 2009)
&
&
unpatched plate with fillet weld and the crack at toe

of weld
patched plate with fillet weld and crack at toe of weld.
In the model for the patched specimen the composite, adhesive

and steel were joined by surface tying, where the nodes of
adjoining surfaces are constrained to move together Figure 12,
such that full bond was assumed. Only one model was created
for the unpatched stiffened specimen.
Elements used in the model were type C3D20R hexagonal
elements with 20 nodes. The initial starter crack at the centre
of the plate was formed by splitting elements using the Split
command in Zencrack, Figure 11. The crack and the cracked
mesh were formed using Zencrack type st35 1 cracked
blocks, (Figure 13). The Zencrack cracked blocks were used to
generate automatically a refined mesh around the crack tip; a
typical block is shown in Figure 13.
To create the numerical singularity required at the crack tip for
LEFM the sides of the first ring of elements forming the crack
tip were collapsed and the adjacent mid side nodes moved to a
distance equal to a quarter of the length of the element side
from the crack tip. This was also implemented by using
Zencrack.
The FEM were subjected to a tensile sinusoidal load of
45 MPa, with a stress ratio of 012, at one end, while the other
end was restrained in the three translational directions, similar
to the testing conditions. The material properties used are
given in Table 3.
Fatigue crack growth was governed by the Paris equation
1:
da
C K m
dN
where da/dN is the crack growth per cycle, K is the cyclic

stress intensity factor in MPam, and C and m are empirically
derived material constants. Equation 1 was modified by Rabbe
and Lieurade (1972), to take into consideration the effects of
the stress ratio R, the ratio of minimum cyclic stress and the
147

230

210
The test was terminated after having completed 15 million cycles with a crack length of 147 mm
Unpatch-EXP
Unpatch-FEA
Patch-EXP
Patch-FEA
220
200
190
Unpatch-Exp.
Unpatch-FEA
180
Half crack length: mm
170
160
150
140
Patch-Exp.
130
120
Patch
applied
110
100
90
Patch-FEA
80
70
60
0
05
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
Number of cycles (106)

results for the unpatched and patch-repaired rib-stiffened
specimens (Khan, 2010)
maximum cyclic stress, and material yield stress to give an

effective stress intensity factor.
Specimen
EC-1
(Patched)
Crack length:
mm
Cycles
Crack growth
rate: mm
per 1000 cycles
8925
8995
10047
15217
20177
24986
29738
35200
40035
45263
50000
345 000
398 200
648 200
1 420 000
1 780 000
2 015 000
2 235 000
2 445 000
2 625 000
2 865 000
2 985 000
02259
01549
01072
01133
01240
01331
01439
01525
01579
01675
Table 1. Average crack growth rates for the patch-repaired flat

edge-cracked specimen
148
da
C Keff m
dN
2:
where
3:
Keff UK
4:
1
1 R=Q
where Q is a factor dependent upon the material yield stress.

The values of C = 1537 1012 and m = 3344 were used in
the analysis, after Yazdani and Albrecht, (1989). Tests carried
out on cracked plates of similar steels at various stress
ratios gave values for Q of 197, 213 and 227 (Lang, 2008).
The mid value of Q = 213 was therefore used in the analysis.


Secondary plate
Joint weld
Crack at the toe of the weld
Main plate
(a)
Secondary
plate
Secondary plate
No weld
Crack block
Main
No weld,
Flat face elements
(b)
Figure 7. Crack profiles: (a) tested cruciform specimen; (b) 3D

model, without weld (Khan, 2010; May et al., 2009)
The stress intensity, however, varies through the thickness of

the plate due to bending imposed by the presence of the patch.
This means that the crack growth rate, da/dN, also varies
through the thickness. As C and m are material constants, the
variation of crack growth through the thickness is proportional
to the variation in stress intensity.
Figure 8. Surface crack in the rib-stiffened specimen (Khan,

2010)
The number of cycles for a crack to grow to a given length is

determined by integrating Equation 5
a2
5:
N
a1
da
C UK m
Zencrack uses the energy release rate, G, with a forward predictor integration scheme or constant dG/da scheme that calculates the amount of crack growth, da, which occurs over the
next cycle, dN, while making allowance for the changes in the
energy release rates as the crack grows. The Paris law,
Equation 1, is integrated in Zencrack for predicting crack
growth rates and is re-written in terms of G as
6:
"
#m=2

m
da
EG
1=2
m
1=2
C K C
G

G
max
min
dN
1 2
where da/dN is the crack growth rate per cycle, C and m

are material constants, G is the equivalent energy release
rate and Gmax and Gmin are maximum and minimum energy
149

550

EC-1-Front-Patch-Exp
EC-2-Front-Unpatch-Exp
EC-3-Front-Unpatch-Exp
After patch FEA
FEA-Unpatch
P-Eq
500
450
Patch-FEA
Crack length, 2a: mm
400
350
FEA-Unpatch
EC-2
EC-1
Patch-Exp
300
250
Patch applied
Shear lips
forming
P-Eq
200
EC-3
150
EC-1
100
50
0
03
06
09
12
15
18
21
24
27
30
Number of cycles from initial crack (106)

results for the unpatched and patch-repaired edge-cracked
specimens (Khan, 2010)
release rates at the nodes. is equal to zero for plane-stress

condition and one for plane-strain condition, is the Poisson
ratio.
The material properties used in the analysis are given in
Table 3. It was assumed that in the patched specimens the
crack grows only in the steel panel with no failure or detectable
de-bonding of the composite patch during the crack growth
analysis. This assumption is based on the experimental evidence from previously repaired panels (Dalzel-Job et al., 2003;
Roy et al., 2009). Full details on the FE modelling work are
given in Khan (2010).
6.
Discussion of results of tests and

finite-element analysis
In this section, the behaviour in the tests and that predicted by

the FE analysis for all of the specimens, both the unpatched
and patched specimens, is discussed.
The test results showed a significant increase in the life of the
patched cruciform specimen compared with the unpatched
specimen. The life was increased by approximately 50%,
Figure 5. A curved surface crack was observed in the
150
unpatched and patch-repaired cruciform specimens, Figure 7,

which shows that the principal tensile stress does not remain
normal to the applied load. No de-bonding or de-lamination
was observed in the patch-repaired specimens.
6.1
Unpatched plates
6.1.1 Cruciform plate

Three FE analyses of the unpatched cruciform specimen were
carried out. The crack was initially inserted 10 mm away from
the secondary plate at approximately the position of the toe of
the weld, which is where the spark-eroded crack had been
formed. The crack was then allowed to grow automatically; the
results of this prediction are shown in Figure 5. In order to
check the sensitivity of the initial location of the crack a
second analysis was carried out in which the crack was placed
at 5 mm away from the secondary plate. At this location, it
would be expected that the local stresses would be higher than
at 10 mm from the secondary plate leading to a shorter life.
However, it was seen that the analysis predicted a longer life.
This was considered to be due to the excessive distortion of the
elements in the crack block, owing to the proximity of the secondary plate, 5 mm away.


Crack grown to
the end
Patch face
Figure 10. Crack growth to the end and on both faces of the
edge-cracked specimen (Khan, 2010)
Specimen type
Cruciform
Unpatched
Patched
Rib-stiffened
Unpatched
Patched
Flat edge-cracked
Unpatched (EC-2)
Unpatched (EC-3)
Patched (EC-1)
Crack
length:
mm
Crack
Cycles
prior to length:
mm
patching
Cycles to
failure
422 671 16086

466 904 15982
1 076 186 39911

1 422 604 40054
239 679 16077

789 679 40722
178 200 16927 15 180 200 33184
400 000
410 000
273 000
9082
9009
8925
756 614 25097

820 000 28082
2 984 500 50000
Table 2. Results for tested specimens
In the analysis, which included the fillet weld, problems were

again encountered with the crack blocks. In both the test and
the analyses of the plates without the fillet welds, the crack
moved away from the secondary plate, Figure 7. However,
because of limitations in the shape of the crack block the crack
was forced to remain at the toe of the weld. Further investigations are required to improve the analysis, but it is considered that the model with the crack 10 mm away from the
secondary plate is realistic.
6.1.2 Rib-stiffened plate
The predictions for the unpatched stiffened specimen are also
shown in Figure 6. Since the crack in this plate is not close to
a weld, no problems were encountered in the analysis.
6.1.3 Edge-cracked plate
The agreement between the analytical and test results of the
unpatched stiffened specimen and the unpatched cruciform
specimen with the crack 10 mm away from the secondary plate
is noteworthy and validates the use of the values of the constants C and m.
6.2
Patch-repaired plates
6.2.1 Cruciform plate

This concerns the patched cruciform specimen in which the
crack was again started 10 mm away from the secondary plate.
In order that the crack could form, the nodes adjacent to the
151


Crack block
x
Y
z
Without weld geometry

x
y
z
Starter crack
Symmetry about this plane
Figure 11. Symmetric FEM without weld and starter crack at

10 mm (Khan, 2010)
Symmetry about this plane
Surface tied
Adhesive
Composite
Patch
Main plate
Without weld, crack block

flat and straight
Adhesive elements removed
Figure 12. 3D FEM for patch-repaired cruciform without weld

geometry (Khan, 2010)
crack that connected the steel and the composite were disconnected. The agreement with the prediction of life compared to
the experimental results is excellent.
152
As the crack grew, it tended to move away from the secondary

plate in both the tests and the FE analysis and again
agreement between test and predictions is excellent, Figure 7.


Crack tip
20-node
brick
element
Crack front
(Collapsing)
Nodes collapsed
to the same location
20-node
collapsed
wedge
element
Contour rings
Crack tip
Midside nodes
moved to 1/4 pts
(a)
(b)
Figure 13. Type s04_t35 1 crack block with collapsed elements

(a) individual collapsed crack-tip element and (b) entire crack block
(adapted from Zencrack, 2007)
Material properties and material constants

Material
Steel
Adhesive
Composite patch
E: MPa
Yield stress: MPa
200 103
2716
135 103
030
034
030
410
results, Figure 9. However, the FE analysis stops for the patchrepaired model after completing over 27 million cycles with a
total crack length of 4335 mm, owing to distortions in
elements in the crack block near the crack tip. Again, the accuracy of the predicted crack growth gives more confidence to
the user for using the proposed FE modelling technique.
7.
c = 1537 1012 and m = 3344 (Yazdani and Albrecht, 1989,
where da/dN are m/cycle and K is MPam)
Table 3. Finite-element modelling parameters
6.2.3 Rib-stiffened plate

The slow crack growth in the patch-repaired rib-stiffened specimen was attributed to the distribution of the applied stress
to the surrounding members, the composite patch and the
rib-stiffener, Figure 14. The fatigue life of the patch-repaired
rib-stiffened specimen suggests that even a thinner composite
patch could have been considered or a higher stress range
could have been used.
6.2.4 Edge-cracked plate
For the patch-repaired edge-cracked specimen, the predicted
crack growths show a similar trend to that of the experimental
Application
Previous tests and studies have concentrated on flat panels.

While valuable for providing a theoretical basis, this has limited
the availability of sufficiently compelling evidence to allow composite patch repairs to be adopted for real structures. The work
described here sought to address this deficit by demonstrating
&
&
the durability of composite patches applied to real

structures containing angles and joints
the ability to predict the effect of a patch repair in complex
details.
The repair described here absorbed over one million fatigue

cycles with no sign of degradation or de-bonding. This is
extremely encouraging in view of the complexity of the
repaired detail; the patch was fitted around a sharp corner
and across two welds, neither of which were ground flush.
The test shows that, assuming correct application procedures,
very good durability can be obtained in challenging
configurations.
153


400
A
Patch applied
603 700 cycles
350
FEA-UnPatch-A (crack block)

100
47 106 cycles
150
21 106 cycles
583 577 cycles
200
105 106 cycles
180 200 cycles
250
Test started
Von Mises stress: MPa
300
FEA-UnPatch-B (stiffener)
FEA-Patch-A (crack block)
FEA-Patch-B (stiffener)
FEA-Patch-C (patch-plate side)
50
50
70
90
Crack growth, da: mm
110
130
Figure 14. Comparison of von Mises stresses in the unpatched

and patch-repaired rib-stiffened FEM (Khan, 2010)
In terms of predicting crack growth rate, the accuracy of the

calculations made here is very encouraging. Both the rate and
direction of crack growth were predicted successfully. The
latter is generally straightforward in a panel test, and has therefore tended to receive less attention; however, it may be less
clear in real structure where the load paths are not always
obvious. In that respect, the test reported here is more relevant
to industrial application than previous studies. More significant, however, is the accurate prediction of life extension,
which is necessary to allow patch repairs to be specified with
confidence. The predictive method used here is considered to
be suitable for the safety assessment of cracked structures and
the design of repairs.
8.
Conclusion
The tests have demonstrated that the patching of fatigue cracks

using CFRP can increase the life of a structure, and that previous work on repairs to flat panels can successfully be applied
to welded details.
In the patch-repaired edge-cracked specimen, no tear or delimitation was witnessed in the composite patch owing to the
additionally applied cycles, even after the failure of the steel
plate, showing the strength and durability of the applied
adhesive bond in an uncontrolled environment.
The FE predicted fatigue lives of the unpatched and patchrepaired steel specimens using the Yazdani and Albrecht
(1989) mean material constants validated against the experimental results, provides confidence for an engineer to use
similar FE modelling techniques for the design of such repairs.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful for the financial support of Lloyds
Register and the Directorate of Sea Systems, UK Ministry
of Defence. The authors would also like to thank Dr Chris
Timbrell of Zentech International Ltd, UK, for his assistance.
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