Assessment of the rehabilitation benefits by finite element method

Abstract

Cruciform fillet welded joints are found in many industrial applications. Welded structures are often subjected to load cycles due to loads that can vary in position and value. As a result of these loads, the phenomenon of fatigue occurs. Fatigue consists in the occurrence of failures, after applying a large number of load cycles, of loads below the yield limit of the material from which the structure is made. Fatigue mattempts have to be carried out over very long periods of time and are very expensive because of the expensive machines. A method by which the fatigue behavior of fillet welded joints can be predicted is the finite element method. The paper proposes to investigate by the finite element method, the fatigue life of some cruciform-fillet-welded specimens, making a comparison of two applied rehabilitation techniques.