43771 2017 eng lecture 0 -- -- -- The paper provides an overview on the results of a German cluster project on the use of fracture mechanics to the determination of the fatigue strength of weldments with fatigue cracks originating at the weld toes. The approach includes (a) a concept for short crack propagation for which the common K concept is not applicable and the crack closure effects are still being gradually build-up, (b) a method for determining fatigue life relevant initial crack sizes as they are needed in any fracture mechanics analysis and (c) multiple cracking and crack coalescence at load levels higher than the endurance limit. The analyses are stochastically performed. Both, the endurance limit as defined for 107 loading cycles and the finite life branch of the S-N curve are determined. Besides a brief introduction into the approach, a wide range of validation examples is presented. These comprise different weldment types (butt welds, cross joints and longitudinal stiffened plates), two steels of quite different strengths, different weld geometries due to different welding techniques (TIG, MAG), as-welded and stress relieved welds and different stress ratios varying from R = -1 to R = 0.5. Vortrag beim TWI (Welding Institute) Great Abington, Cambridge, UK 06.06.2017 0 Uwe Zerbst eng uncontrolled Fracture mechanics eng uncontrolled S-N curve eng uncontrolled Weldments Ingenieurwissenschaften und zugeordnete Tätigkeiten Datei im Netzwerk der BAM verfügbar ("Closed Access") Präsentation