Ductile Fracture Simulation of Structural Steel Components Using the Local Approach

Abstract

This article is a summary of an extensive investigation carried out to assess the possible use of the local approach to ductile fracture in the design of service components. The investigation included ductile fracture simulation of structural steel(BS080M40) at room temperature using non-linear finite element analysis and several constitutive material damage models. It incorporated an experimental programme to calibrate and validate the simulation results and metallographic examinations of the material microstructure and fracture process. It concludes that local fracture approaches have the capacity to model fracture of structural steel components within specified limitations.