Fracture Mechanics in Civil Structures I: Steel Structures

Presented by Anthony Ingraffea, Professor
Civil & Environmental Engineering
Cornell University

Date: Tuesday, September 22, 2009 4:30 PM
Location: 366 Hollister Hall

Failure in civil steel structures is most often due to unstable crack propagation. The branch of solid mechanics that governs such a phenomenon is called Fracture Mechanics. However, civil engineering education and practice in the U.S. largely ignores this sub-discipline, despite the existence of fracture mechanics-based theories, technologies, procedures, and design/maintenance philosophies in use effectively by other fields such as aerospace, PVP, etc.

This seminar will have four parts:

• A brief overview of types of crack growth in a variety of civil steel structures
• A brief summary of the fundamentals of fracture mechanics theory
• A practical case study: why did World Trade Center #7, a 47-story modern steel frame structure, collapse on 9/11/01?
• A Q&A session

A 2nd seminar later this semester will address the fracture mechanics of civil concrete structures, during which similar education and practice issues will emerge.