Stress Concentration at Load-Carrying Fillet Welded Cruciform Joints Subjected to Tensile and Bending Loads

This article presents numerical finite element method (FEM) analysis of the stress concentration at toes and crack-like faults in load-carrying fillet welded cruciform joints with transversal slits resulting from non-fused root faces. Potential fatigue damage of such joints subjected to cyclic tensile and bending loads appears in the form of fatigue cracks starting from the weld roots or toes. The aim of this article is to find qualitative and quantitative relationships between geometrical parameters of the load-carrying fillet welded cruciform joint subjected to tensile and bending loads and the stress concentration at weld toes and roots. The results of the analysis represented by the stress concentration factors (SCFs) and the stress intensity factors KI and KII are shown in the form of tables, graphs and mathematical formulas, which may be applied for fatigue assessment of such joints.