Fatigue Resistance of Welded Joints in Steel Marine Structures

Evolution from a Total Stress to a Total Life Concept

The research aim is to improve the formulation of both stress distribution and intensity for all defined characteristic welded joints: {DS (double side) butt joint, SS (single side) butt joint, DS T-joint, SS T-joint}. And then establish a fatigue resistance curve (random fatigue limit formulation) for steel as-welded joints using {CA (constant amplitude), VA (variable amplitude) } small scale specimen data. Furthermore, the {SSS (small scale specimen), LSS (large scale specimen), FSS (full scale specimen)} similarity as well as weld volume effect will also be incorporated to give a more precise and reliable prediction of the fatigue life time for the welded joints in steel marine structures.

Figure: Fatigue physics range of scales (Henk den Besten, 2015).