Reducing Fatigue Failures in Welded Joints Through Proper Joint Designs

Many materials, including steel, when subjected to repeated strains will weaken
and eventually initiate cracking. If repeated loading continues, the cracks will
grow through the member thickness and increase in length. The development of
these cracks through this process is termed fatigue crack initiation and growth.

Fatigue damage in large structures normally accumulates most rapidly at notches

or discontinuities, where stresses are raised above those in the surrounding
structure by local effects.

Fatigue in welded joints is a complex problem primarily related to structural

geometry and joint design, with secondary links to material properties.

Welded joints cannot be perfect. All joints have flaws/imperfections that reduce
the structural integrity or fatigue life of the joint. Imperfections lead to higher
localized stress, thus fatigue cracks most always start at an imperfection. The
localized stress is often called the notch stress, hinge point or leak path.

There are three main classes of imperfections that will decrease the fatigue life of
a welded joint:

a) Surface Weld Discontinuities

i) cracks
ii) lack of fusion or penetration

b) Embedded Weld Discontinuities

i) cavities
ii) solid inclusions, e.g. porosity and slag

c) Geometrical / Shape Imperfections

i) axial misalignment
ii) angular misalignment
iii) imperfect weld profile
iv) undercut and root undercut (it gives rise to stress concentration effect)

Surface Weld Discontinuities and Embedded Weld Discontinuities

Embedded Weld Discontinuities such as weld porosity and slag inclusion will
reduce fatigue life, but are less harmful than Surface Weld Discontinuities for the
fatigue life of a welded connection. Surface Weld Discontinuities such as weld
toe undercut, cracks, overlaps, porosity, slag inclusions and incomplete
penetration can have a significant influence on fatigue life. Figure 1 illustrates
many of the flaws that can exist in a welded joint.
Reducing Fatigue Failures in Welded Joints Through Proper Joint Designs

Figure 1: Common Geometrical and Internal Weld Discontinuities

Geometric Imperfections
Geometric imperfections in welded joints such as misalignment, angular
misalignment, angular distortion, excessive weld reinforcement, incomplete root
penetration and otherwise poor weld shapes can reduce fatigue life by several
orders of magnitude. Geometric imperfections differ from Surface Weld
Discontinuities and Embedded Weld Discontinuities in that their effect is to
enhance existing regions of stress concentration in the welded joint, chiefly the
weld toe, rather than to provide additional sites for possible fatigue crack
initiation.

The effect of the Geometric imperfections is to cause an increase or decrease in

stress in the joint when it is loaded, due to the introduction of local bending
stresses.
Reducing Fatigue Failures in Welded Joints Through Proper Joint Designs

Weld geometry and different type of imperfections strongly influence the fatigue
strength of a welded joint. The local weld geometry affect the stress
concentration factor and the welding process create crack like defects.

Fig. 12 shows some examples of fatigue sensitive imperfections and bad weld
toe geometry.

How Welds Fatigue

In welded steel structures, fatigue cracks will almost certainly start to grow from
welds, rather than other details, and especially in partial penetration welds. Most
welding processes leave minute metallurgical discontinuities from which cracks
may grow. Partial penetration welds have an uneven profile and typically a notch
with weld discontinuities on the non-welded side. These points cause local stress
concentrations of the type shown in Figure 3. Small discontinuities close to these
points will therefore react as though they are in a more highly stressed member
and grow faster.
Reducing Fatigue Failures in Welded Joints Through Proper Joint Designs

Notch Stress and

Hinge Points
Figure 3. Partial Penetration Weld

Fatigue is a weakest link process which depends on the local stress in a small
area. While the higher strain at a notch makes no significant contribution to the
overall deformation, cracks may start growing here and eventually result in
fracture of the part. Almost all fatigue cracks start at the surface since slip occurs
easier here than in the interior. Additionally, simple fracture mechanics
considerations show that surface defects and notches are much more damaging
than internal defects of similar size. The physical condition and stress situation at
the surface is therefore of prime importance for the fatigue performance. One of
the important variables influencing the fatigue strength is the surface finish or
contour of the finished weld.

To improve the fatigue life of the welded joints, full penetration welds must be
used. The method relies on reducing the stress concentration by removing weld
discontinuities through grinding the backside of the weld to clean metal, removing
lack of fusion, oxidation and stress notches and then welding over the clean
metal to an acceptable surface contour.

Figure 4. Full Penetration Weld