Fatigue Design of Cruciform Joints including V-notch Effect at the Weld Toe

Abstract The present paper proposes a new and more accurate fatigue life prediction model for fillet welded joints in steel subjected to constant amplitude loading. With the traditional fracture mechanics approach, the greatest difficulty when computing the fatigue life of a welded detail is to determine the initial crack size a0. The classical way to determine the stress intensity factor K (SIF) is by using the following formula Where σ is the applied stress, a is the crack size and g(a/T) the geometrical correction factor which has been determined by Gurney function or similar solutions. This approach is not accurate for short crack because of the singular V-notch behaviour close to the c…