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Weld start and end points are fatigue failure sensitive locations. Their fatigue behaviour especially in thin sheet structures under multiaxial load conditions is not sufficiently explored so far. Therefore, a research project was initiated to increase the knowledge concerning this topic, which is of special interest in the automotive industry. In the present study, fatigue tests on welded joints were conducted. In the numerical part of the study, notch stresses were calculated with an idealised weld end model. A numerical method which combines the geometrical and statistical size effect to an integrated approach was used, in order to consider the size effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, a local stress based concept for the fatigue assessment of weld ends in thin sheet structures under combined normal and shear loading is introduced. The notch stresses were calculated using the finite element method and submodel technique. An idealised weld end model was used in order to determine the stress state for such loading situations. Moreover, a numerical method was used to consider size effects, which combines both the geometrical and statistical size effects, to an integrated approach. Therewith and in connection with the cycles-to-failure from fatigue test results, a standardised S-N curve was derived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]