Analysis of Ultimate Compressive Strength of Cracked Plates with the Use of DoE Techniques

The objective of this work is to investigate the structural compressive response of plates with locked cracks accounting for all relevant factors and correlation between them. The nonlinear FE model considering both geometric and material nonlinearities is employed herein, and the FE model of the structural response of intact plates is validated with the available experimental data. In the common studies, based on One Factor at a Time analysis, some of the parameters and interactions between them are excluded. In the present study, the numerical investigations are conducted with the use of the Design of Experiments techniques, where all essential parameters and their interactions are adequately considered. With a total of 32 numerical analyses, the most influential factors and their interactions are identified. As a study outcome, empirical formulations, which allow for a fast estimation of the ultimate compressive strength of intact plates, plates with locked cracks, and repaired cracked plates, are derived. The developed formulations represent a fast and practical tool for estimating the ultimate compressive strength of intact, cracked, and repaired plates, which can be easily employed in the reliability analysis.results followed by their discussion.