Abstract This work employs an innovative technique, wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) which is a type of directed energy deposition, for fatigue strengthening of cracked steel components. Different steel plates with a central crack were tested under high‐cycle fatigue loading regime, including a reference plate, a plate repaired by WAAM with as‐deposited profile, and a plate repaired by WAAM and subsequently machined to reduce stress concentration factors. Corresponding finite element simulation was conducted to provide a better understanding on the mechanism of WAAM‐repair. The existing central crack in the reference plate propagated and led to a rupture after 0.94 million cycles, while those in the two WAAM‐repaired plates did not propagate, due to the increased net cross‐section and the compressive stresses induced by the depositing process. However, in the second plate, a new crack initiated at the root of WAAM profile as a result of local stress concentration, and the fatigue life reached 2.2 million cycles (2.3 times as the reference plate). The third plate, on the other hand, survived more than 9 million fatigue cycles with no visible degradation, thanks to its smooth machined profile. The findings of this work indicate that WAAM repair shows great potential as a technique to address fatigue‐related damages in steel structures.
Urban buildings will collapse when subjected to extreme earthquake. Debris caused by collapse can block roads, hinder rescue and increase casualties. Therefore, predicting the collapsed debris scope makes sense for earthquake damage estimation and urban disaster reduction. To solve the problem of element disappearance in the finite element method, the animation simulation technology is introduced in this study. The complete collapse process of steel frame structures with infill walls characterized by different height-width ratios and length-width ratios is simulated, and the distribution of collapsed debris is analyzed. The results indicate that the proposed method can completely reproduce the collapse process and collapsed debris distribution of the steel frames. Besides, the contribution of infill walls significantly expands the collapsed debris scope. Last, considering the length-width ratios and height-width ratios of the buildings, a prediction method of collapsed debris blocked area of steel frame is proposed.
Wire and Arc Additive manufacturing (WAAM) is a Direct Energy Deposition process suitable for the manufacture of large aluminium components. Additive Manufacturing can enable the production of functionally graded structure which could be done by integrating the substrate required to start the deposition into the final component. This paper aims to assess the possibility of including a substrate in a component by investigating the mechanical performances of the interface between a wrought plate and WAAM deposit. Four substrates alloys and 2319 WAAM alloy were investigated. Inter-layer rolling and heat treatment, process steps known for improving the properties of WAAM deposit, were implemented. Each interface was examined using microhardness profiles, tensile tests, post rupture fractography and microstructural analysis. The WAAM deposit hardness was lower than that of the substrate in the as-deposited condition. Although the interface had no impact when using the same alloy for both substrate and wire, the weakest point of the combination was at the interface in dissimilar alloy combination. Heat treatment reduced the properties difference between the substrate and WAAM deposit. Inter-pass rolling strengthen the WAAM deposit without impacting the substrate and eliminated the micro crack that occasionally formed in the fusion zone in the as-deposited condition.