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Welding is one of the most common methods in industrial practice for joining components. Its main advantages are high speed in manufacturing combined with low costs and, usually, a high degree of flexibility, integrity and reliability. Nevertheless, welding is a highly complex metallurgical process and, therefore, weldments are susceptible to material discontinuities, flaws and residual stresses which may lead to structural failure and life time reduction. As a consequence weldments are an important field of fracture mechanics methods although its application is more complex than for homogeneous or non-welded structures. The aim of the paper is to provide an overview on the current state of fracture mechanics application to weldments. It starts by discussing the specific features which any fracture mechanics analysis of weldments has to take into account. Then, the experimental determination of fracture toughness, fatigue crack propagation and tensile properties of weldments is addressed. Finally, the analytical determination of the crack driving force in components and structural integrity assessment approaches for weldments are presented.
The idea to determine the fatigue strength of weldments by means fracture mechanics was originally based on the empirical observation that the major portion of the fatigue life in weldments is frequently spent in crack propagation. The present paper gives a brief overview on the basic principles of fracture mechanics-based determination of fatigue strength and on special features which have to be considered for weldments. Based on this information, the ongoing research project IBESS is introduced and briefly reviewed.
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 ΔK 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 and the finite life branch of the S-N curve are determined.
Besides a brief introduction into the approach, validation examples are presented. These comprise different weldment types (butt welds, cross joints and longitudinal stiffened plates), two steels (S355NL and S960QL) of quite different strengths, different weld geometries due to different welding techniques (WIG, MAG), as-welded and stress relieved welds and different stress ratios varying from R = -1 to R = 0.5.
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.
The cyclic J-integral (∆J-integral) is a crack tip parameter of elastic-plastic fracture mechanics which can be used as governing parameter for the description of fatigue crack growth (FCG) in metallic structures. In this contribution, it is applied for modelling FCG in weldments. The ∆J-integral is determined by means of analytical approximation formulas as well as numerical methods. An analytical solution, which takes into account effects of the local ligament plasticity, was derived. This solution is based on well established methods such as R6, BS7910 and SINTAP which were modified for cyclic loading. It incorporates methods for the description of short crack closure behaviour as well as the well known analytical (long) crack closure function of Newman. A specific code was written to evaluate the ∆J-integral numerically in the course of finite element based crack growth simulations. The code was first validated for an infinite plate with centre crack by applying elastic and elastic-plastic material behaviour. Next, the ∆J-integral was calculated for cracks in various butt and cruciform welded joints. The results were compared with the results of the derived analytical approximation formula. A good accordance was achieved between the results.
The paper provides an application of the IBESS approach to the investigation of the influence of various parameters of the global and local weld geometry as well as material defects on the fatigue strength of weldments. For this purpose, the global weld parameters, such as the weld toe radius, the flank angle, the excess weld metal, local secondary notches (in the present study as a measure of surface imperfections) and inclusions sizes have been determined as statistical distributions for different joint types and geometries and two steels of different strengths. The results are in line with literature data and reveal the potential of the theoretical approach to predict the correct trends. The combination with an advanced weld quality system has been demonstrated to be possible.
Common fracture mechanics based fatigue considerations are usually limited to the residual lifetime determination of so-called long cracks. The extension of this concept to the total lifetime, as in the S-N curve approach, requires an adequate description of short crack propagation which cannot be based on the Delta K concept, and it must consider the crack closure phenomenon as well as its gradual build-up at the short crack stage. Further, it has to provide a meaningful definition of initial crack dimensions and a solution for the multiple crack problem at stress levels higher than the fatigue limit as it is specific for some configurations such as weldments. This paper aims at a discussion of all these points and offers possible solutions which are illustrated by examples taken from the German IBESS project on fracture mechanics based determination of the fatigue strength of weldments, the results of which will be discussed in more detail in this Special issue.
Special aspects of welded components such as geometrical imperfections, inhomogeneity, strength mismatch and welding residual stresses have to be taken into account in a fracture mechanics analysis since they affect the crack driving force in the component as weil as the fracture resistance of the material. The treatment of components subjected to static loading is based on methods such as the European SINT AP procedure, which has been validated in a nurober of case studies. In the present paper the influence of strength mismatch and residual stresses on the fracture resistance and the assessment of a component are discussed.
In a number of previous papers, the authors have proposed a model for fracture mechanics based prediction of the S-N characteristics of metallic components with large microstructural defects. Here, an extension to materials that do not show large defects onto the fracture surfaces is provided. In such cases, an approach based on a so-called cyclic R-curve analysis is proposed for the determination of the initial flaw size, which has to be used in the calculation of fatigue crack propagation. The principle is explained and demonstrated by a first application to a welded joint.
A fracture mechanics model which shall be applied to the fatigue strength determination of weldments has to focus on various aspects such as: (a) the description of mechanical and physical short fatigue crack extension which is characterised by yielding conditions which do not permit the application of the common ΔK concept and by the gradual build-up of the crack closure effect, (b) a consistent methodology for determining the initial crack size, (c) based on this, the determination of a fatigue limit, (d) the treatment of multiple crack propagation at load levels above this limit, (e) the variation of the local geometry along the weld toe, and (f) statistical effects.The paper gives alimited overview of the work the authors did in this field during the last years within the German project cluster IBESS. A model is presented and briefly discussed which covers the questions above.