Abstract
Brittle fractures could occur from shallow surface cracks on welded parts of steel structures during earthquakes. Since the occurrence of that fracture is significantly influenced by the shape of the welded parts, the existing methods cannot predict the fractures. This study focused on a modified Weibull stress which considers the processes of nucleation and propagation of microcracks, and affirmed the applicability to evaluation of the brittle fracture initiation during earthquakes. Additionally, the relationship between critical deformation of a steel bridge bent corner to the fracture from a shallow crack and its weld toe radius was quantitatively evaluated as an example of actual use of the modified Weibull stress based evaluation.
