Factors affecting the low cycle fatigue behavior around the weak axis of welded I-section bracing members

The low cycle fatigue behavior and energy dissipation capacity around the weak axis of the welded I-section bracing members are investigated by 35 pinned-pinned bracing specimen tests under the axial cyclic loading with different characteristics. Particular attention is paid to the effects of loading amplitude, loading history and geometry properties of these members. It is found that the fatigue damage propagating to fracture in the flanges of the bracing members can be divided into 3 stages involving the macroscopic surface crack initiation, the penetrated crack formation and the penetrated crack propagation. Some empirical formulas to estimate the fatigue life and cyclic energy dissipation capacity of the bracing members are also presented based on the experimental data. The statistical analysis indicates that the fatigue life to surface crack initiation significantly depends on the inelastic local buckling and will increase with decreasing width-thickness ratio of the flanges and increasing slenderness ratios of the bracing members. Besides, it is found that the low cycle fatigue and energy dissipation of these members also depends on loading amplitude and loading history, and the effects of overloads and mean compression amplitude can improve the fatigue performance of bracing members. The test results show that the bracing members with better low-cycle fatigue resistance have the better energy dissipation capacities.