Laboratory for Mechanics and Steel Materials

Introduction

In order to promote effective use of new steel materials and products in engineering construction, the CNERC Laboratory of Mechanics and Steel Materials is established to:

• conduct fundamental studies into mechanical properties of new generations of steel materials;
• develop welding technologies for the new generations of steel materials;
• provide design guidance on the structural requirements on the new generations of steel materials, and the corresponding welding specifications.

The investigations aim to:

• To quantify the basic mechanical properties and the constitutive laws of high strength steels;
• To quantify deformation characteristics of welded joints with various types of heat affected zones (HAZ) under various heat input energy;
• To investigate the continuous cooling transformation properties of the high strength steels;
• To establish the damage evolution properties of the high strength steels and the corresponding HAZs;
• To establish practical Welding Procedure Specifications for the high strength steels.
• To investigate the hysteretic behaviour of the high strength steels and the corresponding HAZs.

Research Team of the Lab

• Laboratory-in-charge

Dr. H C Ho

• Deputy Laboratory-in-charge

Dr. Y F Hu, Research Assistant Professor

• Members

Prof. K F Chung

Prof. M X Huang (Professor, The University of Hong Kong)

Prof. G H Feng (Professor, Central Iron & Steel Research Institute)

Dr. Zhenbao Jiao (Assistant Professor, Dept. of ME, PolyU)

Ir Victor Wu

Ms. T Y Xiao

Mr. Y C Wang

Mr. H Jin

Lab details

The LMSM takes the following forms of investigations:

Task I Experimental investigations

• Physical welding simulation to produce various types of HAZs;
• Tensile tests on heat treated coupons;
• Tensile tests on butt-welded and fillet-welded joints;
• Charpy impact tests on heat treated coupons and welded joints;
• Cyclic tests on butt-welded joints.

Task II Numerical investigations

• Numerical welding simulation using coupled heat-transfer and advanced thermo-mechanical analyses;
• Mechanical simulations on heat treated coupons under monotonic tension;
• Mechanical simulations on welded joints under monotonic and cyclic actions;
• Establishment of constitutive models for typical welded sections.

 

 

Expected deliverables:

The deliverables of this project will not only include welding procedure specifications, design guidelines and recommendations, but also high-quality papers, and technical reports. This project can greatly facilitate the wide adoption of high strength steels in building construction. The following major technical output is expected:

• Constitutive models for high strength steels under both monotonic and cyclic actions;
• Welding procedure specifications for high strength welded joints using different welding methods;
• Design guide on welding of high strength steels.