Fatigue performance of butt welds between cast steel joint and steel tubular members

Cast steel joints have gained increasing popularity for use in engineering. The fatigue performance of butt welds between cast steel joint and steel tubular members, however, is not yet well characterized. A series of fatigue tests were conducted on a new type of welding detail, cast steel joint with sloped end and integrated backing ring (Type C), for butt welds between cast steel joint and steel tubular members. Fatigue failure mechanism and S-N curves obtained from the tests were compared with those of Type A connection with backing ring and Type B cast steel joint with integrated nose obtained in literature. Fatigue behaviours of all three welding details were successfully predicted by local strain approach, the results of which are consistent with test results, especially for Types A and B welding details. According to the results of tests and analysis, fatigue cracking of butt welds between cast steel joint and steel tubular members always initiates from the bottom of the weld root, and the fatigue performance of Type C welding detail is better than those of Types A and B because of its lower stress concentration level. A simplified fatigue design equation was then proposed based on the results of local strain approach, in which the fatigue notch factor was adopted in fatigue behaviour evaluation. The accuracy of this simplified fatigue design equation was verified for Type C welding details with various geometry configurations.