scholarly journals Fatigue Failure Analysis of Fillet Welded Joints Used in Offshore Structures

Author(s):  
Jonas W. Ringsberg ◽  
Majid Anvari ◽  
Djan Eirik Djavit ◽  
Erik Strande

This paper presents a comparison made of different fatigue calculation methods used in the maritime industry today, with the aim of having a higher control of a fatigue failure site. To provide an overview of the different fatigue calculation methods, a comparison study was performed, as well as a local weld parameter study for two typical fillet welded joints. The two methods used for this study were the structural hot spot and effective notch stress method. Two fillet welded joints were provided by Aker Solutions MMO AS, Bergen, Norway. The first joint is a rectangular hollow section from a davit, built as a truss. The second model is a part of a K-joint from a semi-submersible (Aker H3 design). Both joints were analysed using fine 3D finite element models. The two different fatigue life calculation methods yielded different fatigue lives for the weld toe, with inconclusive results regarding their conservatism which is discussed in the paper. An increased weld toe radius gave a higher fatigue life for the weld toe, while the larger weld size increased the fatigue life in the weld root. Any weld size effect regarding fatigue life in the weld toe could not be established. Based on the effective notch stress method calculations, there was an indication of weld root failure for the K-joint of the drilling unit. Fatigue life improvement methods only increasing weld toe fatigue life are not recommended based on these results.

Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 1249
Author(s):  
Yixun Wang ◽  
Yuxiao Luo ◽  
Yuki Kotani ◽  
Seiichiro Tsutsumi

The existing S-N curves by effective notch stress to assess the fatigue life of gusset welded joints can result in reduced accuracy due to the oversimplification of bead geometries. The present work proposes the parametric formulae of stress concentration factor (SCF) for as-welded gusset joints based on the spline model, by which the effective notch stress can be accurately calculated for fatigue resistance assessment. The spline model is also modified to make it applicable to the additional weld. The fatigue resistance of as-welded and additional-welded specimens is assessed considering the geometric effects and weld profiles. The results show that the error of SCFs by the proposed formulae is proven to be smaller than 5%. The additional weld can increase the fatigue life by as great as 9.4 times, mainly because the increasing weld toe radius and weld leg length lead to the smaller SCF. The proposed series of S-N curves, considering different SCFs, can be used to assess the welded joints with various geometric parameters and weld profiles.


Author(s):  
Kumarswamy Karpanan ◽  
Allison Weber Kirk ◽  
Gerald Hershman

Welds are one of the commonly used joint types and are employed extensively in subsea oil and gas production equipment. Commonly used weld joints in subsea components are fillet, butt, full-penetration, plug, and girth. Fatigue is one of the critical failure modes for welded joints. Welded joints are complex to analyze for fatigue loading due to the microstructure change during the welding process. The welding process also induces residual stress in the heat affected zone (HAZ) surrounding the weld. This, in turn, can adversely affects the fatigue life of the joint. The S-N fatigue approach is commonly used for weld fatigue analysis due to the simplicity of this method. Industry standards such as DNV, IIW, BS-7608, and ASME BPVC Sec VIII Div. -2 or -3 are typical references for this type of analysis. For subsea specific applications, DNV-RP-C203 and BS-7608 are generally used because these two standards provide S-N curves for welds in “air” as well as in “seawater with cathodic protection”. These two codes also provide S-N curves for various weld geometries ranging from simple fillet welds to complex tubular joints. Some of the weld fatigue analysis techniques used in the subsea industry are the: nominal stress approach, structural hot spot stress approach, effective notch stress approach (ENS), structural stress method (ASME VIII-2, -3) and the Fracture mechanics based fatigue crack propagation (FCG) approach. This paper presents the fatigue analysis of fillet welds in bore inserts using the ENS method. In the ENS method, a 1mm radius notch is modelled at the weld root or toe, see Figure 1, which yields a finite weld root stress. The stress analysis is carried out using FEA and the stresses on the notch along with the appropriate fatigue curve are used to estimate the weld root fatigue life.


2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (8) ◽  
pp. 601-606
Author(s):  
Minhyeok Heo ◽  
Changwan Han ◽  
Hanjong Kim ◽  
Seung-bin Jung ◽  
Seonghun Park

2007 ◽  
Vol 348-349 ◽  
pp. 565-568
Author(s):  
C.M. Sonsino ◽  
D. Radaj ◽  
W. Fricke

Some recently developed variants of local concepts for assessing the fatigue strength and structural durability of welded joints are reviewed. These comprise structural stress, notch stress or strain and fracture mechanics concepts. New variants of the structural stress concept are Dong’s gradient stress approach and Xiao-Yamada’s ‘one millimetre stress’ approach. FE meshing rules have been developed for welded joints in thin sheet structures. The concept of fictitious notch rounding is now better substantiated for aluminium alloys. The small-size notch concept is applicable to thin sheet lap joints. The new notch stress intensity factor concept is based on the singular stresses at the sharp weld toe notch. Advanced fracture mechanics concepts combine crack initiation at the seam weld root or nugget edge and crack propagation over the plate thickness resulting in endurable FK values as function of cycles per unit thickness, N/t.


2021 ◽  
Vol 144 ◽  
pp. 106076
Author(s):  
Hamidreza Rohani Raftar ◽  
Mohammad Dabiri ◽  
Antti Ahola ◽  
Timo Björk

2014 ◽  
Vol 633-634 ◽  
pp. 659-664 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zong Tao Fang ◽  
De Yu Tang ◽  
Yan Hua Hu ◽  
Hu Li Niu

This paper focus on fatigue problem of submarine pipelines, four points bending full scale fatigue experiment were conducted on X65 pipelines butt joints specimens, utilizing pipeline full scale fatigue test machine developed by CNPC. Meanwhile contrast test was also carried out on small specimens. The results show that the fatigue strength of full scale welded joints is lower than the small scale joints. Owing to having no regard for the influence of residual stress and size effect, the small test would provide dangerous results. The fatigue property of full scale welded joints only meets the requirement of DNV C203 W3 curve, and meets the needs of DNV C203 F3 curve basically while not meet BS 7608 F2 curve’s requirements which relatively demand higher. Weld toe and geometric discontinuous near weld root is the weak point for the whole welded joints.


Author(s):  
M H Kim ◽  
H J Kim ◽  
J H Han ◽  
J M Lee ◽  
Y D Kim ◽  
...  

The purpose of this study is to investigate the fatigue strength of butt-welded joints with special attention paid to employing different kinds of backing plates. The effect of the under-matched weld was also considered. Four different cases of backing scenarios for butt-welded specimens such as steel backing, ceramic backing, CMT (no backing by cold metal transfer) and UM (under-matched welded specimen) were investigated. A series of fatigue tests was performed to compare the fatigue strength of butt-welded joints with respect to different backing scenarios. Effective notch stress was used for the interpretation of fatigue strength of butt-welded specimens with backing plates based on finite element analyses for calculating fatigue notch factors. When results were presented from the effective notch stress, all backing scenarios considered in this study exhibited the fatigue strengths corresponding to the FAT 225 curve. From the experimental results of this study, it was determined that the fatigue strengths of butt-welded joints were found to be in the order of CMT, ceramic backing, UM, and steel backing. No significant decrease in fatigue strength, however, was observed when backing plates were steel backing and ceramic backing types.


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