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DEFECTS AND CRACK SHAPE DEVELOPMENT IN FILLET WELDED JOINTS
Author(s) -
SMITH I. F. C.,
SMITH R. A.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
fatigue and fracture of engineering materials and structures
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.887
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1460-2695
pISSN - 8756-758X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1460-2695.1982.tb01231.x
Subject(s) - fillet (mechanics) , welding , fillet weld , materials science , structural engineering , stress concentration , stress field , fracture (geology) , fatigue testing , stress (linguistics) , paris' law , fracture mechanics , composite material , crack closure , engineering , finite element method , linguistics , philosophy
— Accurate knowledge of defect sizes and crack shape development from initiating defects is essential for a realistic application of fracture mechanic? to the fatigue life prediction of welded joints. Defects at the toes of high quality longitudinal non‐load‐carrying fillet welded joints have been examined using two methods, and compared with those observed in plain unwelded plate. The defects observed at the weld toe were, on average, four times deeper than the largest observed in the unwelded plate but had similar root radii. For this particular geometry the defects could be considered continuous at the expected initiation site. A simple estimate of the stress concentrating effect of a single composite defect, coupled with experimental evidence, led to the conclusion that the proportion of total life spent in initiation is negligible for all stress levels which cause fatigue failure. Subsequent growth and crack shape development was observed to depend on the initial defect distribution and the complex stress field at the weld toe.