Abstract
Fracture of fillet welds and partial penetration welds was observed in past strong earthquakes, where the location of crack initiation is subjected to combined shear and tensile stresses. However, studies on ductile fracture under the coupling stress state are limited in the field of steel structures. This study aims to experimentally and numericaly investigate the effect of coupling stress on ductile crack initiation and propagation of several typical steels in bridge engineering. Two series of specimens made of three different steels are employed, where specimens are respectively under pure shear, shear and tension at the initial loading stage. The cracking processes of the specimens are studied. Meanwhile, absorbed plastic energy of the specimens is also investigated.
