Stress Intensity Factor Solution for Fractured Steel W-Shaped Beams Considering Non-overlapping Cracking Behavior

In this study, the stress intensity factor (SIF) equation for the non-overlapping web cracks in W-shaped beams is developed based on the symbolic regression which performs on the data obtained from finite element (FE) analyses. The symbolic regression is constructed via the genetic programming (GP). The non-overlapping SIF solution in this study is dependent on beam flange-to-web area ratio, web crack length and crack eccentricity. In the current analysis, the good agreement between the predicted SIF values and the FE database is obtained when the squared Pearson’s coefficients of correlation is found to be higher than 0.95. Furthermore, the obtained SIF solution is also compared with the results from previous studies to evaluate the performance of GP process chosen in the current study.