Analysis of non-loading carrying fillet welds joint using SGBEM

Fatigue failure is probably the most common type of failure in welded construction. It is usually initiates at a stress concentration area within the structure. The fatigue behavior of non-load carrying cruciform fillet welded joint has been studied extensively using boundary element method. The symmetric boundary element method for multiple cracks problem is derived using Betti's reciprocal theorem in auxiliary fictitious state. High order element is proposed to solve the double integrals. The analysis demonstrates that symmetrical Galerkin boundary element method (SGBEM) can be used effectively for analyzing non-load carrying fillet welded cruciform joints containing any number of surface and embedded cracks. The stress intensity factor and the magnification factors M-k are analyzed. General formulation for this kind of fatigue life estimation is derived for engineering design purpose. The fatigue life estimate results are consistent with the code of practice and those of other researchers. This can provide a good method for engineering design under fatigue loading conditions.