Fatigue strength of welded joints under multiaxial loading: experiments and calculations

In reality most welded components are loaded with a combination of different variable forces and moments that often cause a state of multiaxial stress in the fatigue-critical areas. If the multiaxial loading is non-proportional, traditional deformation-based hypotheses are not able to give a reliable lifetime prediction. This investigation is a cooperation between three German research institutes to build an experimental database for the verification of different concepts of lifetime prediction. In accordance with former investigations, a flange-tube connection made of steel P460 was used. The test program was divided into constant amplitude and variable amplitude tests. The ratio between the nominal bending and shear stress is 1. For the variable amplitude tests, a Gaussian-standard is used. A lifetime prediction software for multiaxial state of cyclic stress was developed. The software has a modular structure and allows calculations with different hypotheses and methods. The calculations are based on the local elastic stresses. This is an acceptable method for high-cycle fatigue. In this work, two general types of calculation, the Integral Approach and Critical Plane Approach and a local stress-based modification of the von Mises Criterion, the hypothesis of effective equivalent stress (EESH) are shown. The damage accumulation is performed with the elementary Miner’s rule (S–N curve without fatigue limit). The statistical distributions of the damage sums are also shown.