Crack Paths in Weld Details under Combined Normal andShear Loading

In welded plate structures, fatigue cracks may initiate at the intersectionsbetween the flanges of longitudinal stiffeners and the web-stiffener attached to atransverse girder. The weld toe cracks may initiate and propagate in the flange of thelongitudinal stiffener, while in certain cases they may initiate from the root of the filletweld resulting in the separation of the web-stiffener from the flange. In order toinvestigate such a morphological change of crack growth behavior, series of fatiguetests have been carried out, and the morphological variation of these fatigue cracks aresuccessfully identified in terms of the normal and shear stress distribution acting alongthe fillet weld between the flange and the attachment.