Influence of Tensile Residual Stresses on the Fatigue Behavior of Welded Joints in Steel

TL;DRAbstract

Fatigue tests were carried out on fillet welded joints in four steels, with yield strengths ranging from 332 to 727 N/mm2, under various applied load ratios. Some specimens were stress-relieved but most were spot-heated to ensure that high tensile residual stresses, as would be present in as-welded joints in real structures, were present in the specimens. The aim was to investigate the effect of tensile residual stresses on the fatigue behavior of fillet welded joints under different load ratios and the relevance of the tensile strength of the steel, particularly in relation to the magnitude of residual stresses developed. In the present specimens, the residual stresses were no higher in the high-strength steels than the mild steels, with the result that the tensile strength of the steel had no effect on the fatigue strength of the joints in both the as-welded and the stress-relieved conditions. Furthermore, it was found that for the range of R-values used (R = −∞ (zero compression to

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