Composite
repair has been verified to be an efficient and economical method to extend the
service life of cracked
steel components. There is a need to develop an accurate
tool for investigating the stress intensity factor in the cracked steel
structure after repair. In this paper the crack propagation of steel plates
bonded with CFRP sheets is studied numerically using the boundary element
method. The composite patch and the cracked steel plate are
simulated using
surface
elements, whereas the adhesive layer is simulated as interface elements
to connect the patch and steel plate. The numerical results are compared with
the experimental results from previous research. The influences of the boundary
conditions, CFRP modulus and the spring stiffness on the results are discussed.