Fracture mechanics approach to bending fatigue behavior of cruciform fillet welded joint

십자형 필렛 용접 이음부 의 굽힘피로 특성 에 대한 파괴역학적 고찰

Fillet welded joints, specially in ship structure, are well known the critical part where stress concentrate or crack initiates and grows. This paper is concerned with the study of the behavior of fatigue crack growth t the root and toe of load carrying cruciform fillet welded joints under three points bending by the determination of stress intensity factor from the J-Integral, using the Finite Element Method. The stress intensity factor was investigated in accordance to the variation of the weld size (H/Tp). weld penetration (a/W) and plate thickness (2a'/Tp). As mixed mode is occurred on account of shearing force under the three points bending, Stern's reciprocal theory is applied to confirm which mode is the major one. The main results may be summarized as follows 1) The calculation formula of the stress intensity factor at the both of root and toe of the joint was obtained to estimate the stress intensity factor in the arbitrary case. 2) The change of stress field around crack tip gives much influence on each other at the roof and toe as H/Tp decreases. 3) Mode I is a major mode under the three points bending.