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This paper aims at proposing a new fatigue life estimation model that is preferably adapted to welded joints subjected to multiaxial loading. First, a mesh-size insensitive structural stress is defined that enables to characterize the stress concentration effect appropriately. Second, the multiaxial stress state and loading path influence are taken into account in the lifetime prediction model by adopting a suitable critical plane method, originally proposed by Carpinteri and co-authors. Experimental verification is conducted for a given welded joint geometry under different loading conditions, including uniaxial, torsional and multiaxial loads. The reliability and effectiveness of the new method are validated through substantive fatigue testing data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the influence of the residual stress on the fatigue performance of a welded structure under multiaxial loading modes is studied. First, the local stress state at weld toe is modified via introduction of the residual stress, and a new fatigue life estimation model considering the effect of the residual stress is established by modifying our recently proposed critical plane method. Second, the basic theory and procedure of the finite element simulation on the calculation of the welding residual stress are presented. Finally, a numerical simulation of an aluminum alloy flange-to-tube welding process is conducted, and the calculated residual stress is verified with X-ray diffraction measurement. Furthermore, the performance of the proposed fatigue life estimation model is verified by the experimental data obtained in the fatigue test under different loading modes. It confirms that the consideration of the residual stress is important, especially under the out-of-phase loading mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel analysis method of stochastic crack trajectory based on a dimension reduction approach. The developed method allows efficiently estimating the statistical moments, probability density function and cumulative distribution function of the crack trajectory for cracked elastic structures considering the randomness of the loads, material properties and crack geometries. First, the traditional dimension reduction method is extended to calculate the first four moments of the crack trajectory, in which the responses are eigenvectors rather than scalars. Then the probability density function and cumulative distribution function of the crack trajectory can be obtained using the maximum entropy principle constrained by the calculated moments. Finally, the simulation of the crack propagation paths is realized by using the scaled boundary finite element method. The proposed method is well validated by four numerical examples performed on varied cracked structures. It is demonstrated that this method outperforms the Monte Carlo simulation in terms of computational efficiency, and in the meanwhile, it has an acceptable computational accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]