Fatigue assessment of welded joints and crack growth considering residual stress

Abstract

Abstract There are different approaches to investigate the fatigue life of welded joints, however, less has been done considering residual stresses. The heat and residual stress distribution of a butt weld joint are determined using ABAQUS software and the results are validated against experimental and numerical studies in the literature. The software FE-SAFE is used to study the fatigue life of a GMAW welded butt joint under high cycle loading considering the residual stress. The corresponding S-N curve is determined, and the results show that the longer the length of welds, the higher residual stress and lower fatigue life. The crack nucleation and propagation in the butt weld simulated using XEFM software, and it is found that crack starts from the position of highest restrain.