In the fatigue assessment of welded tubular joints, the hot spot stress around the weld toe plays a significant role. The location of the peak stress around the weld toe determines the initiation position of fatigue crack. Finite element simulation, rather than experimental test, is generally used to carry out analysis for investigation on such hot spot stress distribution because it saves much time and fee. However, the accuracy of the hot spot stress distribution in a tubular joint depends much on its geometry and weld size. This study presents finite element method to analyze the hot spot stress distribution of tubular T-joints. Actual weld size measured from tested specimens and simplified weld size in accordance with AWS specification are both considered in the finite element analyses. It is found from the investigations that the weld size may produce critical influence on the hot spot stress around the weld toe of a tubular T-joint, and the actual weld size is necessary to be considered in the finite element model.
