Fatigue Strength of Welded Joints by the Local Strain Method

The Local Strain Method, recently proposed for the prediction of welded structures fatigue life, is based on the strain gage measurement of the strain field close to the weld toe, which is considered to be responsible for the material fatigue damage. A fatigue life curve in terms of local strain amplitude has been found for welded joints made of structural steel under stress ratios from -1 to 0.5. In this work the general validity of this approach has been verified, with particular care to the effects of plate thickness and load ratio R.