Experimental Fatigue Analysis of Butt-Welded Joints

Fatigue experiments on butt-welded steel joints in the recently established fatigue laboratory at the Kiel University of Applied Sciences, Germany, are presented in this paper. The tests were carried out on 5 mm thick shipbuilding steel of grade AH36 with a yield stress of R-eH = 355 N/mm(2), joined by submerged arc welding technique. A new SincoTec MAG 100 resonance frequency pulser was used to carry out the constant amplitude load controlled fatigue tests. The results are compared to the work of different researchers and the recommendations issued by the International Institute of Welding (IIW).