Ultimate Shear Strength of Pitted Plates with Crack Using Finite Element Method

Ultimate strength of thin steel plates was studied under shear loading when pitting cor-rosion and cracking occur simultaneously. Nonlinear finite element method was used and the effects of different geometrical parameters, such as crack position, crack length, pit depth, pit diameter, number of the pits, and the inclination angle of the crack, were investigated. It was found that the degree of the pitting (DOP) significantly reduces the ultimate shear strength of the pitted plates when the corrosion is low. For high amount of corrosion, the reduction of the ultimate shear strength remains the same regardless of the amount of the DOP. In plates with short cracks, the crack length has no influence on the reduction of the ultimate shear strength. Also, it was found that the position of the crack is more effective than the length of the crack on the reduction of the ultimate shear strength of the cracked plates. In the cracked-pitted plates, there was no interaction between crack and pit for extremes value of DOP. For low value of DOP, the ultimate shear strength of the cracked-pitted plate was the same as the cracked plate, and for large value of DOP, it is the same as pitted plate.