Compilation of fatigue assessment procedures of welded structures for automotive utilization

Abstract

Welded structures are commonly used in the industry, especially, in the transport sector. Indeed, when these structures are subjected to the cyclic loadings, the analysis of the fatigue strength of welded joints became very important and quite complicated. There are many factors underlying this problem. The most critical of these factors that affect the resistance of fatigue is the nature of the material chosen, the detail of geometry, and the residual stress, as well as the yield stress of the base metal. It is for this reason that many authors and engineers have recommended some historic methods and standards to predict the life time of structures. The most used methods are the chapter 9 of Eurocode 3, the local deformation method and the British Standard, but these methods lack precision. Recently new approaches have emerged the hot spot and the volumetric method to determine the effective stress in the plastic zone near the weld. The comparisons between these new approaches have concluded that the volumetric method encompasses a number of advantages over the standards applied. In the future work, the author will apply the volumetric method on a model based on a welded structure used in the automotive domain in order to predict the fatigue life, then, the results obtained from this method will be validated using the experimental test and the numerical simulation results.

Keywords:

• Fatigue
• welded structures
• hot spot method
• volumetric method
• automotive structures

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the support from the Research Team EMISys, research center ENGINEERING 3S (Energetic, Mechanical and Industrial Systems) in Mohammadia School of Engineers, Rabat, Morocco.

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not for profit sectors.