PREDICTION OF THE FATIGUE BEHAVIOR OF WELDED STEEL AND ALUMINUM STRUCTURES WITH THE FRACTURE-MECHANICS APPROACH

The paper deals with the fracture mechanics approach to the fatigue li fe and crack growth of welded connections in steel and aluminium struc tures. This approach can be used as a design as well as a maintenance tool. The following aspects of fatigue calculations are highlighted: m odelling of the geometry and stresses, crack schematisation and a frac ture mechanics based model. Special attention is given to stress inten sity factor solutions for welded joints and several crack growth laws. Examples of fatigue crack growth calculations are an important contri bution to this paper. The effect on lifetime of the following paramete rs are demonstrated and compared with experimental results: thickness, weld toe grinding and weld dimensions. Additional attention will be g iven to an application for tubular joints.