TY - CONF A1 - Madia, Mauro T1 - Probabilistic structural integrity assessment of welded joints N2 - The fatigue assessment of welded joints requires several input data, which can be subdivided into three categories: geometry, material and loading. The number of input data depends essentially on the complexity of the models employed and on the level of accuracy of the analysis. It is common practice to use safety factors in design to account for the scatter of the input parameters. Nevertheless, overly-conservative factors lead often to unrealistic estimations of fatigue life. This work presents a fracture mechanics-based model for the structural integrity assessment of welded joints under constant amplitude fatigue loading, in which the local geometry at the weld toe and the fatigue crack growth properties are considered statistically distributed. The approach is validated against a large number of experimental data. T2 - ICF15 - International Conference on Fracture CY - Atlanta, GA, USA DA - 12.06.2023 KW - Fatigue KW - Fracture Mechanics KW - Weldments KW - Short crack KW - Probabilistic Assessment PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-57726 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Madia, Mauro T1 - Determination of the Kitagawa-Takahashi diagram for the EA4T railway axle steel by means of the cyclic R-curve method N2 - The Kitagawa-Takahashi (KT) diagram is a well-established tool in the fatigue community for the prediction of the fatigue limit of metallic materials in presence of defects. Nevertheless, its determination is associated with a large number of fatigue tests carried out on specimens with artificial defects (notches) to describe the fatigue limit-defect size relationship in the short crack regime. The preparation of the specimens and the execution of the tests is time expensive. Therefore, few phenomenological models have been introduced in the past to provide a first approximation of the KT diagram based solely on the fatigue limit for smooth specimen and the fatigue crack propagation threshold for long cracks. Despite the use of such models is widely spread, these suffer from problems related to the uncertainties of the material parameters. Furthermore, the mechanics of short cracks, which is the physical mechanism behind the concept of the fatigue limit, is not considered. This work discusses the advantages and drawbacks of using short fatigue crack propagation models for predicting the fatigue limit of flawed metallic materials. The KT diagrams for a EA4T railway axle steel in as-received and full-hardened condition are approximated by means of the cyclic R-curve method. T2 - 13th International Fatigue Congress CY - Hiroshima, Japan DA - 06.11.2023 KW - Fatigue limit KW - Crack propagation KW - Short crack KW - Cyclic R-curve KW - EA4T railway axle steel PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-58867 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Elahi, Seyed Ahmad A1 - Mehri Sofiani, F. A1 - Chaudhuri, Somsubhro A1 - Balbin, J.A. A1 - Larossa, N.O. A1 - De Waele, Wim T1 - A numerical study on fatigue strength degradation due to pitting corrosion of S355 structural steel in a marine environment N2 - This study investigates the influence of pitting corrosion on the fatigue strength of S355 steel, commonly used in offshore wind support structures. A short crack microstructural model is employed to estimate the degraded fatigue strength, effectively capturing the physics of the problem with minimal input parameters. Material characterization tests provide the key mechanical properties of S355 steel. A parametric analysis is used to examine the effects of pit shape, size, and aspect ratio. A generic relationship is identified between degraded fatigue strength and pit size for various pit aspect ratios. A sensitivity analysis reveals that the pit aspect ratio significantly influences fatigue strength, with sharper pits leading to greater reductions. The threshold stress intensity factor has a moderate effect, while in-air fatigue strength and grain size have minimal impacts. A case study is performed to evaluate the fatigue strength degradation of S355 steel exposed to the North Sea environment. Findings indicate that the most severe degradation occurs in the initial years of exposure, with the degradation rate declining over time. The results align well with experimental data, offering a robust framework for assessing structural integrity in a marine environment. KW - Fatigue strength KW - Corrosion fatigue KW - Pitting corrosion KW - Short crack KW - Micromechanical model KW - S355 structural steel PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfailanal.2025.109669 SN - 1873-1961 VL - 177 SP - 1 EP - 21 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-63062 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -