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Publications
Dong, Y., Teixeira, A.P. and Guedes Soares, C. (2019), “Fatigue reliability analysis of butt welded joints with misalignments based on hotspot stress approach”, Marine Structures, Vol. 65, pp. 215-228
Fatigue reliability of butt welded joints with misalignments is assessed, based on the structural hotspot stress approach. In addition to the stress magnification factor due to the misalignment, a stress concentration factor due to the secondary bending caused by unsymmetrical weld profile can also contribute to the hotspot stress. This is evaluated using the Monte Carlo method and finite element method based on published weld profiles. A critical stress magnification factor, which represents the margin left for the misalignment effect to trigger fatigue failure, is proposed. To obtain its statistical descriptors, the Monte Carlo method is also used to propagate the uncertainty. A limit state function is formulated based on the critical and actual stress magnification factors. The first order reliability method is applied to evaluate the reliability levels of different welding processes, reliability levels of standards and the lateral distortion limits for a target reliability index. The results show the advantage of the laser welding over the conventional arc welding regarding the fatigue reliability. The tolerance limits of misalignments specified by standards lead to different reliability levels for different welded joint plate thicknesses. The thin-plate joints show a low reliability level and the reliability index increases with the plate thickness.
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