Fatigue assessment of weld ends under combined loading

In the present study, a local stress based concept for the fatigue assessment of weld ends in thin sheet structures under combined normal and shear loading is introduced. The notch stresses were calculated using the finite element method and sub-model technique. An idealised weld end model was used in order to determine the stress state for such loading situations. Moreover, a numerical method was used to consider size effects, which combines both the geometrical and statistical size effects, to an integrated approach. Therewith and in connection with the cycles-to-failure from fatigue test results, a standardised S-N curve was derived.