• International Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology Speciallssue:Selected Papers
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.69-74
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• 2003

Recent deepwater offshore structures in the Gulf of Mexico utilize butt welded tubular joints. Application of a welded tubular joint includes tendons, production risers, and steel catenary risers. Fatigue life assessment of these joints becomes more critical, as the structures to which they are attached are allowed to undergo cyclic and sometimes large displacements around an anchored position. Estimation of the fatigue behavior of these tubular members in the design stage is generally conducted by using S-N curves, as specified in the codes and standards. Applying the stress concentration factor of the welded structure to the S-N approach often results in a very conservative assessment, because the stress field acting on the tubular has a non-uniform distribution through the thickness. Fatigue life analysis using fracture mechanics has been applied in the design of the catenary risers. This technology enables the engineer to establish proper requirements on weld quality and inspection acceptance criteria to assure satisfactory structural integrity during its design life. It also provides guidance on proper design curves and a methodology for accounting for the effects of non-uniform stress distribution through the wall thickness. Still, there is inconsistency when designing tubular joints using a conventional S-N approach and when specifying weld flaw acceptance criteria using fracture mechanics approach. This study developed fatigue curves that are consistent with both the S-N approach and the fracture mechanics approach. Accounting for non-uniform stress distribution and threshold stress intensity factor were key parameters in relating both approaches. A series of S-N curves, generated from the fracture mechanics approach, were compared to the existing S-N curves. For flat plate butt joint, the S-N curve generated from fracture mechanics matches with the IIW class 100 curve when initial crack depth was 0.5 mm (0.02). The new curves for tubular joint agree very well with the experimental results. The comparison also indicated the degree of conservatism built into the API X design curve.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.55-62
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• 2015

It is expected that the size of welding defect affects the mechanical performance of welded medium density polyethylene (MDPE) pipe joints. In this study, butt fusion welded MDPE pipe joints with a single spherical or planar defect of various sizes were studied using experimental crush testing and also by finite element method. The crush test showed that the mechanical performance of crush was not affected by the size and geometry of a single welding defect when the defect size was increased to 45% of the pipe's wall thickness. The simulation results indicated that the effect of the single welding defect on the Von Mises stress distribution near the defect explained the reason of the test results.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.39 no.11
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• pp.1191-1198
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• 2015

In this paper, we develop simplified finite element (FE) models for butt-, lap- and T-welded joints by performing numerical and experimental experiments. Three-point bending tests of butt- and lap-welded specimens are performed to obtain the stiffness of the specimens and the strains at points near the welding beads. Similarly the stiffness and strains of T-welded specimen are measured by applying a point load at the end of the specimen. To develop simplified FE models, we consider the shape parameters of width, thickness and the angle of weld elements in the numerical simulations. The shape parameters of the simplified FE models are determined by building linear regression models for the experimental data sets.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.359-364
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• 2004

We investigated the effect of weld details on fatigue behavior of a material, JIS SM 490 A, with yielding strength of about 350 MPa and tensile strength of about 520 MPa. Tensile tests, instrumented indentation tests and fatigue tests were carried out on double V-grooved butt weld plates such as reinforcement removed, as-welded and weld toe ground. In addition plates with transverse fillet welded web, load carrying cruciform fillet welded plates, non-load-carrying cruciform fillet welded plates and longitudinal butt welded plates were tested. S-N curves for the above specimens were obtained and analyzed

• Bulletin of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.45-51
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• 1976

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.277-279
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• 2006

Due to the numerous environmental factors, cracks and corrosion are frequently occured especially in old steel bridge, which deteriorate the structural integrity; thus bring about the problems of structural safety of the steel bridge. Therefore, repair and reinforcement are required for the damaged structure. the replacement repair welding method is spotlighted for its brilliant features, i.e. it can be achieved without incurring traffic dislocation. the method cuts the damaged parts and replaces them with new steel plate by welding under live loads. However, the mechanical behavior of the welded joints under cyclic loads due to the traffic which passes along bridge is not clarified. In this paper, the fatigue strength of the replacement repair welded joints was investigated in order to improve reliability in the repair welded joints of old steel bridge.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.4 no.4 s.15
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• pp.1-6
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• 2004

Fatigue tests were carried out for butt welded joints with SM520-TMC steel plate with thickness between 20mm and 80mm. The test results were analysed statistically and the effect of plate thickness on the fatigue strength investigated. The fatigue strengths based on nominal stress range satisfy the requirement of the standards. Due to misalignment of the specimens, the measured stresses are higher than the nominal stresses especially for 20mm thick plates. If fatigue strengths are evaluated based on the measured stresses, then the fatigue strengths are greater than those based on nominal stresses. The results show that the thickness effect is similar to the formula proposed by Gurney.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.118-120
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• 2006

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.127-132
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• 2002

Recent deepwater offshore structures in Gulf of Mexico utilize butt welded tubular joints. Application of welded tubular joint includes tendons, production risers, and steel catenary risers. Fatigue life assessment of these joints becomes more critical because the structures to which they are attached are allowed to undergo cyclic and sometimes large displacements around an anchored position. Estimating the fatigue behavior of these tubular members in the design stage is generally conducted by using S-N curves specified in the codes and standards. Applying the stress concentration factor of the welded structure to S-N approach often results in very conservative assessment because the stress field acting on the tubular has a non-uniform distribution through the thickness. Fracture mechanics and fitness for service (FFS) technology have been applied in the design of the catenary risers. This technology enables the engineer to establish proper requirements on weld quality and inspection acceptance criteria to assure satisfactory structural integrity during its design life. It also provides guidance on proper design curves to be used and a methodology for accounting for the effects of non-uniform stress distribution through the wall thickness. An attempt was made to develop set of S-N curves based on fracture mechanics approach by considering non-uniform stress distribution and a threshold stress intensity factor. Series of S-N curves generated from this approach were compared to the existing S-N curves. For flat plate butt joint, the S-N curve generated from fracture mechanics matches with the IIW class 100 curve when initial crack depth was 0.5 mm (0.02"). Similar comparison with API X′ was made for tubular joint.. These initial crack depths are larger than the limits of inspection by current Non-destructive examination (NDE) means, such as Automatic Ultrasonic Inspection (AUT). Thus a safe approach can be taken by specifying acceptance criteria that are close to limits of sizing capability of the selected NDE method. The comparison illustrates conservatism built into the S-N design curve.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.401-417
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• 2021

This study experimentally reveals the influence of welding on grade S690Q high strength steel (HSS) butt joints from both micro and macro levels. Total eight butt joints, taking plate thickness and welding heat input as principal factors, were welded by shielded metal arc welding. In micro level, the microstructure transformations of the coarse grain heat affected zone (CGHAZ), the fine grain heat affected zone (FGHAZ) and the tempering zone occurred during welding were observed under light optical microscopy, and the corresponding mechanical performance of those areas were explored by micro-hardness tests. In macro level, standard tensile tests were conducted to investigate the impacts of welding on tensile behaviour of S690Q HSS butt joints. The test results showed that the main microstructure of S690Q HSS before welding was tempered martensite. After welding, the original microstructure was transformed to granular bainite in the CGHAZ, and to ferrite and cementite in the FGHAZ. For the tempering zone, some temper martensite decomposed to ferrite. The performed micro-hardness tests revealed that an obvious "soft layer" occurred in HAZ, and the HAZ size increased as the heat input increased. However, under the same level of heat input, the HAZ size decreased as the plate thickness increased. Subsequent coupon tensile tests found that all joints eventually failed within the HAZ with reduced tensile strength when compared with the base material. Similar to the size of the HAZ, the reduction of tensile strength increased as the welding heat input increased but decreased as the thickness of the plate increased.