IHS ESDU Fatigue strength of transverse butt welds in steel plate under axial loading. 77011

ESDU 77011 gives graphs of the stress in the loaded plate plotted against endurance obtained from test data for constant amplitude loading on welds in plates of between 1/4 and 2 inch in thickness reported in a wide range of sources in the literature. The joints were prepared with square, or single or double U or V, ends and welded from both sides. Two graphs show the data for weld toe failure cases, one for a fully-tensile loading and one for zero mean stress. Both show 95 per cent confidence lines derived from a statistical analysis. A third graph shows failures initiated at a weld defect for both fully tensile and zero mean stress loadings, again with confidence limits. The influence of weld defects is discussed and a graph shows the reduction in defect-free fatigue strength plotted against the reduction in cross-sectional area due to defects. Also discussed are the effects of residual stresses and size, mean stress, and weld bead shape.