Recent progress on geometrical and stress concentration characterization of welded joints

Abstract

Stress concentrations arise at welded joints due to local notches at weld transitions and determine fatigue life under cyclic loading. In order to accurately determine the severity of these stress concentrations from local weld geometry parameters advanced measurement technologies are required; however, the characterization of welded joints is traditionally based on manual measurements. In recent years, several techniques have been developed to characterize geometrical and stress concentration features of welded joints. This study briefly reviews a number of studies on weld geometry measurements, stress concentration characterization, and the determination of their influence on fatigue life estimation. Finally, an outlook on machine learning-based determination of fatigue life is given.