Fatigue analysis of multipass welded joints considering residual stresses

Abstract Gas metal arc welding (GMAW) is one of the most used joining method in the industry. However, one of the main problems of this process is the generation of residual stresses (RS). There are different approaches to predict the fatigue life of welded joints, but in general, these approaches do not consider the real value of RS. Therefore, the current approaches to estimate fatigue life of welded components are conservatives. This paper describes an alternative method to asses high cycle fatigue (HCF) life prediction based on numerically estimated RS values. Results have shown good correspondence for the HCF range, with a maximum average error of 15% in stress for the studied configurations. The proposed method can be used as a valid tool to optimise the geometry of the component and thus decrease the economic cost.