ANALYSIS OF LOAD AND NON-LOAD-CARRYING FILLET WELDS USING HBIES

In order to obtain the accurate stress intensity factors of crack prob lem, a finer mesh is usually required in boundary element analysis sin ce the stress (or displacement) solution is not accurate enough, espec ially near a crack tip. In this study, hypersingular boundary integral equations (HBIEs), combined with a multi-zone technique and traction singular quarter-point element, are implemented to evaluate the accura te boundary stress components especially near the crack tips. The boun dary stresses are then used to calculate stress intensity factors by a stress extrapolation method. Numerical results are presented for an e dge cracked plate and the stress intensity factors estimated by other methods are compared. Moreover the sensitivity to element mesh and sta bility to crack lengths are investigated. Finally, the stress intensit y factors of load-carrying and non-load-carrying fillet welds are calc ulated, and the effects of weld size and attachment thickness on the s tress intensity factors are analyzed. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.