Creep Modeling of Transverse Welded Lap Joints Exposed to Fire Temperatures

Abstract

This paper presents a methodology for the development of two creep models for the welds and the steel base material that are capable of predicting the thermal creep behavior of transverse welded lap joints. This methodology is based on the experimental program of the thermal creep effect on transverse welded lap joints conducted previously as a part of this research. The experimental results are in the form of creep curves and they are used to develop a Norton–Bailey power law creep equation for the welded lap joints. Then, two creep models for the welds and steel base material are proposed by introducing temperature-dependent scaling factors to the Norton–Bailey power law creep equation of the welded lap joints. Finite element (FE) simulations are then developed in ABAQUS to predict the thermal creep behavior of the welded lap joint using the two proposed creep models for the welds and the steel base material. The two creep models are calibrated by changing the power law creep constants in order to predict the experimental creep curves with reasonable accuracy. Another series of FE simulations is conducted using Fields and Fields creep model for the steel base material instead of the proposed one for comparison purposes. The weld and structural steel creep models are intended to support the development of modeling the creep behavior of large-scale welded connections for structural-fire engineering application. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.