Evaluation of fillet weld properties and fatigue behaviour in dependence of welding parameters

Numerous different design codes can be used to describe the durability of welded structures. One wide spread approach is the local notch stress approach, which calculates the fatigue lifetime in dependency of the notch stress factor using different effective radii. To calculate the fatigue behaviour by using the local notch stress approach, the RIMS-concept is commonly used [1]. The evaluation of the influence due to the welding process parameters, especially for high-strength steels, the effect of both the geometrical and metallurgical notch is studied in a parametric way for selected weld joints.

Experimental fatigue tests have been performed to investigate the link between fatigue life and manufacturing process dependent weld toe notch design. To be able to capture the influence of welding parameters, as energy input per unit length, welding velocity, angle of blowpipe, size and shape of the heat input zone in a numerical way, a local coupled thermo-mechanical simulation is build-up. The complexity of this modelling increases very strong by the temperature dependency of the multitudinous phase material properties. The material and manufacturing properties were adjusted by comparison of the temperature profiles. This experimental based procedure defines the simulation base for more complex welding seams.