Thesis (M.Sc. Agriculture (Agronomy) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / Erratic rainfall and insect infestation are some of the factors that limit cowpea production in Limpopo (Asiwe, 2009). Improved cowpea varieties available for dryland production in Limpopo do not meet the farmer’s needs. Specific trait crosses are needed to be made with adapted varieties for the purpose of developing high yielding, pest tolerant and adapted varieties. Varieties with desired specific traits were planted in isolation plots for outcrossing by insects. F1 lines derived from parental lines that were half sib seeds were harvested and planted as F2, and seeds obtained from F2 generation were used to develop F3 segregating population at University of Limpopo Experiential Farm, Syferkuil, and planted along with parents. This F3 generation forms the current evaluation on which this report is based. Data collected included; aphid severity (measured on a 9-point scale), number of days to 90 % maturity, grain yield, 100 seed weight and number of genotypes selected for advancement. Results showed significant variation among progeny over parents therefore expressing transgressive segregation. Genotypes derived from pedigree TX08-30-5 were five while pedigree IT98K-205-8 and IT97K-499-35 had four genotypes each that expressed early maturity (80-90 days) which are desirable for evading drought. Twenty-three genotypes from pedigree GEC and three from pedigree IT97K-499-35 obtained grain yield (>101 g/plot and >161 g/plot) that was better than their parents. Only one genotype derived from pedigree TX08-30-1 expressed high resistance to aphids better than the parent with a mean aphid score range of 1-2. Four genotypes from pedigree TX08-30-5 obtained bigger 100 seed weight (>18.6 g) compared to parent. These progeny also proved to be high yielders as they expressed heterosis for all yield attributes than their parents. Eighty-two genotypes were selected for advancement. Significant variations were observed among progeny giving opportunity to make selections. In most cases, genotypes outperformed their parents which indicate positive heterosis. The 82 promising genotypes selected will be advanced for further selections from multi location testing for stability and adaptation.

Placement and compaction of the backfill behind an earth retaining wall may induce a vertical shear force at the soil-to-wall interface. This vertical shear force, or downdrag, is beneficial for the stability of the structure. A significant reduction in construction costs may result if the downdrag is accounted for during design. This potential reduction in costs is particularly interesting in the case of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lock walls. A simplified procedure is available in the literature for estimating the downdrag force developed at the wall-backfill interface during backfilling of a retaining wall. However, finite element analyses of typical U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lock walls have shown that the magnitude of the downdrag force may decrease during operation of the lock with a rise in the water table in the backfill. They have also shown that pre- and post-construction stress paths followed by interface elements often involve simultaneous changes in shear and normal stresses and unloading-reloading. The hyperbolic formulation for interfaces (Clough and Duncan 1971) is accurate for modeling the interface response in the primary loading stage under constant normal stress. However, it has not been extended to model simultaneous changes in shear and normal stresses or unloading-reloading of the interface. The purpose of this research was to develop an interface model capable of giving accurate predictions of the interface response under field loading conditions, and to implement this model in a finite element program. In order to develop the necessary experimental data, a series of tests were performed on interfaces between concrete and two different types of sand. The tests included initial loading, staged shear, unloading-reloading, and shearing along complex stress paths. An extended hyperbolic model for interfaces was developed based on the results of the tests. The model is based on Clough and Duncan (1971) hyperbolic formulation, which has been extended to model the interface response to a variety of stress paths. Comparisons between model calculations and tests results showed that the model provides accurate estimates of the response of interfaces along complex stress paths. The extended hyperbolic model was implemented in the finite element program SOILSTRUCT-ALPHA, used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for analyses of lock walls. A pilot-scale test was performed in the Instrumented Retaining Wall (IRW) at Virginia Tech that simulated construction and operation of a lock wall. SOILSTRUCT-ALPHA analyses of the IRW provided accurate estimates of the downdrag magnitude throughout inundation of the backfill. It is concluded that the extended hyperbolic model as implemented in SOILSTRUCT-ALPHA is adequate for routine analyses of lock walls. / Ph. D.

This thesis is on fatigue crack growth experiments and assessments of fatigue crack growth rates. Both constant and variable amplitude loads in two different materials are considered; a nickel based super-alloy Inconel 718 and a stainless steel 316L. The considered load levels extend from small scale yielding (SSY) to large scale yielding (LSY) for both materials. The effect of different load schemes on the fatigue crack growth rates is investigated on Inconel 718 and compact tension specimens in Paper A. It is concluded that load decreasing schemes give a to high Paris law exponent compared to constant or increasing load amplitude schemes. Inconel 718 is further analyzed in Paper B where growth rates at variable amplitude loading in notched tensile specimens are assessed. The predictions are based on the fatigue crack growth parameters obtained in Paper A. The crack closure levels are taken into consideration and it is concluded that linear elastic fracture mechanics is incapable of predicting the growth rates in notches that experience large plastic cyclic strains. Even if crack closure free fatigue parameters are used and residual stresses due to plasticity are included. It is also concluded that crack closure free and nominal fatigue crack growth data predict the growth rates equally well. However, if the crack closure free parameters are used, then it is possible to make a statement in advance on the prediction in relation to the experimental outcome. This is not possible with nominal fatigue crack growth parameters. The last three papers consider fatigue crack growth in stainless steel 316L. Here the load is defined as the crack tip opening displacement parameter. Paper C constitutes an investigation on the effect of plastic deformation on the potential drop and consequently the measured crack length. It is concluded that the nominal calibration equation obtained in the undeformed geometry can be used at large plastic deformations. However, two conditions must be met: the reference potential must be taken in the deformed geometry and the reference potential needs to be adjusted at every major change of plastic deformation. The potential drop technique is further used in Paper D and Paper E for crack length measurements at monotonic LSY. Constant amplitude loads are considered in Paper D and two different variable amplitude block loads are investigated in Paper E. The crack tip opening displacement is concluded in Paper D to be an objective parameter able to characterize the load state in two different geometries and at the present load levels. Furthermore, if the crack tip opening displacement is controlled in an experiment and the local load ratio set to zero, then only monotonic LSY will appear due to extensive isotropic hardening, i.e. elastic shake-down. This is also the reason why the linear elastic stress-intensity factor successfully could merge all growth rates, extending from SSY to monotonic LSY along a single line in a Paris law type of diagram, even though the generally accepted criteria for SSY is never fulfilled. For the variable amplitude loads investigated in Paper E, the effect of plastic deformation on measured potential drop is more pronounced. However, also here both the crack tip opening displacement parameter and the linear elastic stress-intensity factor successfully characterized the load state. / <p>QC 20130108</p>

The I-35W Bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, MN had a catastrophic failure in the main span of the deck truss in 2007. This collapse has brought significant attention on the gusset plate connections in steel truss bridges throughout the U.S. Steel truss bridge gusset plate design has not received much focus in the past 40 years, and there is a lack of consensus within the design profession on the procedures to evaluate, design, and rate these critical elements. In the short term, based on the best available information on the gusset plate design, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has issued preliminary guidance. Although some experimental research has been conducted on the ultimate strength of gusset plates, much of this work has been directed toward the performance of tension members and their connections. There has been limited experimental work on the compression capacity and stability of gusset plates, but most of this work is relevant primarily to bracing connections common in building structures. This research focuses on comprehensive experimental and analytical studies on steel truss bridge gusset plate behavior. The studies include comparisons of advanced analytical models with the responses from large-scale experimental tests using discrete and innovative full-field measurements. The calibrated finite element analysis models are then utilized to study a variety of gusset plate configurations. Improved mechanistic idealizations that better capture the observed behavior in the experiments and analytical studies are proposed as the result of this work. The design checks recommended in this thesis present a comprehensive methodology for determining the ultimate gusset plate resistance. This research provides a large database of original results that will be useful for future similar studies. In addition, this research provides modeling procedures that permit the study of steel truss bridge connections and their adjacent framing members using truss bridge sub-assemblies. Based on the comprehensive analytical studies, simple and accurate design calculation procedures to assess the nominal ultimate strength of steel truss gusset plate connections are recommended for steel truss bridge gusset plate connections.

Les mâchefers sont les résidus solides issus de la combustion des ordures ménagères dans des fours d’usine d’incinération. L’utilisation des mâchefers dans le domaine du Génie Civil est une voie de valorisation très intéressante car les quantités d’ordures ménagères sont de plus en plus importantes alors que les matériaux utilisés dans les travaux publics se raréfient. Les mâchefers ont été utilisés depuis des dizaines d’années dans le domaine du Génie Civil. Cependant, les caractéristiques mécaniques du matériau « mâchefer » ne sont pas très bien connues. Ce travail de thèse contribue à l’amélioration des connaissances des caractéristiques mécaniques des mâchefers.Après une caractérisation géotechniques (paramètres de nature, paramètres mécaniques, paramètres d’état), chimiques et environnementales, le potentiel d’utilisation de ces mâchefers est évalué selon la Circulaire du 9 mai 1994 et selon le Guide technique SETRA-LCPC 2000 « Réalisation des remblais et des couches de forme ».Dans la partie expérimentale, des essais oedométriques et triaxiaux sont effectués. En ce qui concerne des essais oedométriques, l’effet de l’énergie de compactage et de l’immersion des éprouvettes ainsi que l’effet de la vitesse de chargement de l’essai sont évalués. L’effet de la vitesse de chargement est également étudié par des séries d’essais triaxiaux. Grâce aux essais triaxiaux, les paramètres mécaniques comme le module d’Young, le coefficient de Poisson, l’angle caractéristique, l’angle de dilatance, la cohésion et l’angle de frottement ont été ainsi déterminés. Ces paramètres mécaniques propres au mâchefer étudié pourront être intégrés dans un schéma de dimensionnement spécifique aux structures de chaussées à base de mâchefers. Ces principaux paramètres permettent d’évaluer l’influence de la pression de confinement effective. Les évolutions du module de déformation selon la déformation axiale et de la variation du déviateur de pression selon la pression moyenne sont également étudiées. Un ensemble de points caractérisant l’état limite a été déterminé à partir des essais triaxiaux. Il caractérise la forme de la surface de charge de ce type de mâchefer.Enfin, les essais triaxiaux ont été simulés. Cette partie du travail contribue à la modélisation du comportement mécanique des mâchefers. Le modèle de Mohr-Coulomb et de Nova sont choisis pour caractériser l’évolution de matériau « mâchefer » sous l’effet d’actions mécaniques extérieures. Ce sont des exemples types de modèles de comportement des sols complètement identifiables uniquement sur des essais triaxiaux classiques. La simulation des essais triaxiaux est réalisée à l’aide du progiciel CESAR-LCPC. Les résultats de modélisations obtenues sont très prometteurs. / Bottom ash is the solid residua coming from domestic waste combustion in the furnace of incineration factory. The utilization of bottom ash in the field of Civil Engineering is necessary because the municipal wastes are increasing causes many environmental problems while the materials of Civil Engineering dwindle. The bottom ash was used for a decade in the field of civil engineering; however the mechanical characteristics of material “bottom ash” are not very well known. This work of thesis contributes to improving knowledge of the mechanical characteristics of bottom ash. After the determination of the geotechnical characteristics (parameters of nature, mechanical parameters, parameters of state), chemical and environmental characteristics, the potential of use of these bottom ash is evaluated according to the « Circulaire de 9 Mai, 1994 » and according to the technical guide SETRA-LCPC 2000 « Réalisation des remblais et des couches de forme ».In the experimental part, the oedometric and triaxial tests are carried out. For oedometric tests, the effect of compaction energy and immersion of specimens as well as the effect of the loading rate of the test were evaluated. The effect of loading rate is also evaluated by some sets of triaxial tests. From the triaxial tests, the mechanical parameters such as the Young’s modulus, the Poisson‘s ratio, the characteristic angle, the dilatancy angle, the cohesion and the friction angle were determined. These mechanical properties are specific to the material and can be integrated in a diagram of dimensioning specific to the structures of roadways based on bottom ash. The studied principal parameters allow us to evaluate the influence of the effective confining pressure. The evolution of the deformation modulus versus to the axial deformation and finally, the variation of the deviator stress versus to the mean effective pressure were also analyzed. A set of points of the yielding state was determined from triaxial tests and it specifies significantly the shape of yielding surface of our bottom ash.Finally, the triaxial tests were simulated numerically. This part is a contribution to the modelling of the mechanical behaviour of bottom ash. The model of Mohr-Coulomb and Nova were chosen to characterize the evolution of the material “bottom ash” under the influence of external mechanical actions. These are typical examples of model soil completely identifiable only through traditional triaxial tests. The simulation of triaxial tests is carried out using the CESAR-LCPC software. The results are found to be promising.

[pt] É uma prática usual em reologia medir o tensão limite de escoamento. Nessas medidas, a tensão limite de escoamento é definida como o máximo valor absoluto de tensão ao qual abaixo não ocorrem escoamentos irreversíveis. Sendo assim, tensão limite de escoamento aparente estimada é usada em conjunto com o critério de von Mises em qualquer escoamento complexo. Este critério compara esta medida a intensidade do segundo invariante do tensor deviatórico das tensões. Acontece que, para escoamento simples de cisalhamento, o mesmo é composto por tensões cisalhantes e diferenças de tensão normais, mas a contribuição do último nunca foi considerada na determinação experimental da tensão limite de escoamento. Em vista de avaliar a importância da contribuição das diferenças de tensões normais na tensão limite de escoamento aparente, foram realizadas uma sequência de testes de creep para cada material, estimando a tensão crítica que representa o valor médio obtido entre os valores das curvas de tensão nas quais o material escoa e não escoa com uma tolerância considerável. Depois disso, foram propostos testes para avaliar os valores de N1 − N2 e apenas N1 no nível de tensão crítica. E em seguida avaliando-se adequadamente a tensão limite de escoamento. Observou-se que, para alguns materiais, a contribuição das diferenças de tensões normais é muito maior do que a contribuiçõ da tensão cisalhante. Por fim, a validade do critério de von Mises para materiais elasto-viscoplásticos foi avaliada. Para este fim, com o intuito de generalizar o estudo, ensaios de compressão a volume constante e de tração foram realizados avaliando-se as correspondentes tensões limites de escoamento. Como conclusão mais importante, o critério de von Mises não foi considerado adequado como critério de falha para os materiais elasto-viscoplásticos analisados. / [en] It is usual practice in rheology to measure the yield stress in a simple shear flow. In these measurements, the yield stress is identified as the maximum value of the shear stress below which no irreversible flow occurs. Then, the thus determined yield stress is used in conjunction with the von Mises criterion in any complex flow. The latter compares it with the intensity of the deviatoric stress tensor. It happens that for simple shear flow the intensity of the deviatoric stress is composed of both the shear stress and the normal stress differences, but the contribution of the latter is never considered in the experimental determination of the yield stress. In view of assess the importance of the contribution of the normal stresses to the yield stress, a sequence o standard constant shear stress tests were performed for each material, estimating the critical stress which represents the mean value obtained between the stress values of the curves in which the material flows and does not flow with an accurate tolerance. After that, proposed tests were performed in order to obtain the values of N1 − N2 and solely N1 at the critical stresses. Following the appropriate yield stress evaluation. It was observed that for some materials the normal stress contribution is much larger than the shear stress contribution. Furthermore, the validity of the von Mises yielding criterion for elasto-viscoplastic materials was evaluated. For this purpose, in order to generalize the study for different flow conditions, constant volume squeeze flow and traction tests were performed evaluating the corresponding yield stresses. As the most important conclusion, the von Mises yielding criterion was considered not to be accurate representing yielding for the elastoviscoplastic materials analyzed.

The Garpenberg mine, owned by the Boliden Mining group, has established a trial area at Dammsjön orebody in order to examine the possibility of increasing the productivity of the mine. The mine uses the rill mining method with a current rill height of 15 m. In order to increase the productivity, the mine is examining the possibility of increasing the height of the rill. The trial area is located at 882 m depth surrounded by dolomite on the hangingwall and quartzitic rock on the footwall side. Rock support arches have been installed, in addition to the regular support pattern, to test their effectiveness on stabilizing the ground around the drifts. The arches have been installed in every 6 m and every 3 m in different parts of the test area. Rock samples from the trial area were brought to the university laboratory for testing. The data gathered from the laboratory tests along with the data from the monitoring of the trial area were used to develop a calibrated numerical model. A three-dimensional (3-D) model was therefore created, by using the FLAC3D numerical code. After the calibration of the model a parametric study was conducted for different rill heights and different arch spacing to investigate the performance of the arches. Specifically, the case of no arch installation along with the cases of an installed arch every 6 m and 3 m were tested, for the rill heights of 15 m, 20 m, 25 m and 30 m. The study concluded that the arches assisted in reducing the ground convergence in the production drift. The results also showed that the total height of the rill bench yields regardless of its height. After the yielding, the rockmass can no longer support itself and caves under its own weight. The larger the rill height, the larger the volume of loose rock that has to be supported and thus, higher the convergence. Furthermore, it was also observed that, significant amount of convergence in the production drift occurred during the drifting of the top drive and less during the stoping of the rill bench. This indicates that, the timely installation of the arches is an important criterion for their performance.

Actuellement, les technologies sont de plus en plus performantes. Elles progressent de jour en jour et la miniaturisation des composants est de plus en plus présente. Dans ce contexte, les structures innovantes dites intelligentes sont de plus en plus utilisées et leurs dimensions diminuent très vite. Les matériaux piézo-électriques ou électro-magnéto-élastiques ont la capacité de changer de forme lorsqu'ils sont soumis à un champ électrique ou magnétique. Ces matériaux diélectriques peuvent servir comme corps actif dans les capteurs, les transducteurs, les oscillateurs ou encore d'autres éléments actifs. D'un côté, ces matériaux actifs de très petites tailles sont utilisés dans les petits appareils et d'un autre côté, ils utilisent une forte tension électrique afin de provoquer un déplacement maximal et/ou une force d'arrêt. Les structures actives intelligentes sont exposées à différents défauts, tels que le décollement ou le délaminage. Ces défauts peuvent apparaître lors de la fabrication du matériau ou lors de sa mise en service. Les risques de rupture sont alors accrus et la durée de vie utile de la structure est par conséquent fortement diminuée. La rupture par délaminage peut être de plusieurs types : l'apparition d'une fissure dans la couche adhésive ou dans la résine, une fissure provoquée par un décollement à l'interface entre la résine et le renfort. La défaillance qu'elle soit de nature électrique ou mécanique, provoquée par un claquage électrique ou une fissure qui se propage est un problème primordial qui a une influence importante sur la performance et la fiabilité de ces matériaux. Ce travail vise à développer un modèle de fissuration en considérant des conditions aux limites physiques et des chargements externes combinés, à la fois électriques et mécaniques. Si on se réfère au cours de mécanique de la rupture linéaire, la présence d'une fissure provoque des singularités en termes de contraintes en pointe de fissure. Egalement, il est connu que le champ électrique au niveau du front de la fissure est plus grand que sa valeur critique et ceci peut être une cause de rupture diélectrique pour les matériaux céramiques piézoélectriques. La première étape de ce travail concerne la modélisation des zones de pré-fracture dans un matériel piézoélectrique dans le but de formuler un modèle sans les singularités évoquées précédemment. Les zones de chargement mécanique limite et de saturation électrique ont été introduites en pointe de fissure et les conditions des perméabilités limitées ont été introduites à la surface de la fissure. Le modèle de fissuration présenté avec deux zones de pré-fracture permet d'éliminer toutes les singularités au voisinage de la fissure. Dans les zones de pré-fracture, une distribution non homogène des déplacements électriques saturés est considérée. Les résultats contiennent les solutions analytiques et numériques de ce problème. Dans la solution numérique, le code ABAQUS a été utilisé. Dans un deuxième temps, le problème d’une série périodique de fissures est considéré pour un matériau magnéto-électro-élastique. Comme un cas limite, une seule fissure avec la condition de la perméabilité limitée est aussi étudiée. Le problème est résolu de manière exacte et des calculs numériques illustrant l'influence de différentes caractéristiques sur les paramètres de fissuration sont présentés sous forme graphique ou dans des tableaux. Egalement, l'influence de la fraction volumique piézo-électrique dans les matériaux magnéto-électro-élastiques sur les paramètres électro-magnétiques dans la région fissurée est étudiée. Enfin, l'attention est focalisée sur l'application de la zone de pré-fracture en pointe de fissure dans les matériaux magnéto-électro-élastiques. La même façon que précédemment, les zones de chargement mécanique limite et de saturation électrique ont été adoptées. Aussi, une zone analogue à une zone de saturation électrique pour le champ magnétique a été introduite. (...) / Nowadays, technologies are improving day by day and at the same high speed smart structures decrease in size. Piezoelectric or magneto-electro-elastic materials have the ability to change its shape under electric or magnetic field. These dielectrics can serve as working bodies at various sensors, transducers, oscillators, modulators and other active elements. On the one hand these active materials are used in small devices and have very small dimensions; on the other hand they use high electrical voltage in order to receive a maximal displacement and/or blocking force. The active smart structure is predisposed to different defects, like debonding and delamination. These situations may take a place during the manufacture (imperfect bounding) and service life of the active smart structure. Delamination failure can be of several types, such as: fracture within the adhesive or resin, fracture within the reinforcement and debonding of the resinfrom the reinforcement. Electric or mechanical failure, such as electrical breakdown or destruction of cracks is an important problem in performance and reliability of these materials. This work aims to develop the model of crack with physical boundary conditions under combined external loads. Consideration of any crack in the course of linear fracture mechanics initiates (creates) singularities in stresses at the crack tips. As known, the electric field, ahead of crack tip, is bigger than its critical value and this can be a cause of dielectric breakdown in piezoceramics. The first task of the work concerns the modelling of pre-fracture zones in piezoelectric material in order to formulate the model without the mentioned singularities. The mechanical yielding and electric saturation zones have been introduced ahead of crack tips and the limited permeable conditions on crack surfaces have been used. The present model of crack with two pre-fracture zones eliminates all singularities on crack continuation. In pre-fracture zones, a non homogeneous distribution of saturated electric displacement is considered. Results contain analytical and numerical solutions of the problem. In the numerical solution ABAQUS code was used. As the second task the problem for a periodic set of the limited electrically and magnetically permeable cracks is considered for magneto-electro-elastic material. As a limiting case, a single limited permeable crack is studied as well. The problem is solved exactly and some numerical calculations which illustrate the influence of various characteristics on fracture parameters are presented in graphical and tabular form. The influence of the piezoelectric volume fraction in magneto-electro-elastic material on electro-magnetic parameters in the crack regions is studied. As the third task, the attention is focused on application of pre-fracture zone ahead of crack in magneto-electro-elastic materials. Similarly to the previous problem, the mechanical yielding and electric saturation zones have been adopted. Also, analogue of electric saturation zone for magnetic field was considered. The present model of crack with three pre-fracture zones eliminates singularities in mechanical, electric and magnetic fields on crack continuation. The problem is solved exactly. Some numerical calculations which illustrate the influence of various characteristics on fracture parameters are presented in graphical and tabular form.

Cette étude a pour objectif principal d’établir une stratégie de modélisation robuste, fiable et performante pour décrire des propagations de fissures d’échelle centimétrique en régime ductile dans des composants industriels. Le modèle d’endommagement de GTN écrit en grandes déformations est utilisé pour modéliser l’endommagement ductile. Ce modèle conduit généralement à une localisation de la déformation, conformément à l’expérience. L’échelle caractéristique de ce phénomène est introduite dans les équations de comportement via l’adoption d’une formulation non locale.Sur le plan numérique, ce modèle non local rend bien compte de la localisation dans une bande d’épaisseur donnée lorsqu’on raffine suffisamment le maillage. Par ailleurs, le problème de verrouillage numérique associé au caractère initialement isochore de la déformation plastique est limité en utilisant une formulation à base d’éléments finis mixtes. Enfin, la distorsion des éléments totalement cassés (i.e. sans rigidité apparente), qui pourrait nuire à la bonne convergence des simulations numériques, est traitée par une régularisation viscoélastique.L’ensemble de ces ingrédients sont appliqués pour simuler la propagation de fissure dans un milieu infini plasticité confinée), de sorte à établir un lien avec les approches globales en J-Δa. L’émoussement, l’amorçage et la (grande) propagation de fissure sont bien prédits. Le modèle est également appliqué à une tuyauterie métallique testée en grandeur réelle dans le cadre du projet européen Atlas+. Après une phase d’identification des paramètres sur éprouvette, les réponses globales et locales d’autres éprouvettes et du tube sont confrontés aux résultats expérimentaux. Ces résultats illustrent le degré de robustesse, de fiabilité et de performance qu’on peut attendre du modèle. / The major goal of this work is to establish a robust, reliable and efficient modeling technique so as to describe ductile tearing over a distance of several centimeters in industrial cases. The GTN damage model expressed in the context of finite strains is chosen to model ductile damage. Generally, the model leads to strain localization in agreement with experimental observations. The characteristic length scale of this phenomenon is introduced into the constitutive equations through the use of a nonlocal formulation.On a numerical ground, the nonlocal model controls the width of the localization band as soon as the mesh is sufficiently refined. Besides, the issue of volumetric-locking associated with plastic incompressibility is handled using a mixed finite element formulation. Finally, the distortion of broken elements (i.e. without any stiffness), which may affect the computational convergence of numerical simulations, is treated using a viscoelastic regularization.The improved GTN model is applied to simulate crack propagation under small-scale yielding conditions, so as to establish a relation with the global (J-Δa) approach. Crack tip blunting, crack initiation and (large) crack propagation are well captured. The model is also applied to a full-scale metallic pipe in the framework of the UE project Atlas+. After a phase of parameter calibration based on the experimental results on some small specimens, the global and local responses of other small specimens and of the full-scale pre-cracked pipe are compared with the experimental results. The results illustrates the robustness, the reliability and the efficiency of the current model.

<p>A large rectangular industrial duct consists of plates stiffened with parallel wide flange sections. The plates along with stiffeners acts to resist the pressure loads and to carry other loads to the supports. The behaviours of the components of large industrial ducts are significantly different from the behaviours on which the current design methods are based on. Investigation presented herein deals with the design methods for spacing stiffeners, proportioning stiffeners and calculating shear resistance of side panel.</p> <p>Current method of spacing stiffeners is based on large deflection plate theory. A parametric study was conducted on dimensionless parameters identified in order to benefit from membrane action in partially yielding plate for spacing stiffeners. Design equations were established in terms of dimensionless pressure, plate slenderness and normalized out-of-plane deflection for three cases namely; 0%, 16.5% and 33% of through thickness yielding of the plate. Results show that approximately 50% increase in stiffener spacing when yielding of 16.5% of thickness is permitted.</p> <p>Under suction type pressure load, the unsupported compression flange and restrained tension flange lead to distortional buckling of the stiffeners. The current methods do not address distortional buckling adequately. A parametric study on dimensionless parameters governing the behaviour and strength of stiffened plat panels was conducted. The study indicated that the behaviour and strength of the stiffened panels could be a function of web slenderness and overall slenderness of the stiffener. The study also identified the slenderness limit of stiffener web for which the stiffener reaches the yield moment capacity. This study demonstrated the conservatism of current method. Finally a method was established to calculate the strength of stiffened plate panel subjected lateral pressure.</p> <p>Side panels adjacent to the supports transfer large amount of shear to the supports and, in addition, resist internal pressure. Currently the design of side panels for shear is based on the methods used for the web of fabricated plate girders. The behaviour and the characteristics between the web of plate girder and the thin side panels are significantly different. A parametric study was conducted on dimensionless parameters identified. It was concluded that the plate slenderness dominates the normalized shear strength of stockier side panels. The aspect ratio and plate slenderness influence the normalized shear strength of slender side panels. Design methods to calculate the shear strength of side panels were proposed.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)