Evaluation of different strain-based damage criteria for predicting the fatigue life of friction stir spot-welded joints under multi-axial loading conditions

Abstract

In this article, fatigue life of dissimilar friction stir spot welds in Cross-Tension and Lap-Shear specimens is predicted using a number of fatigue damage criteria. The results revealed a relatively good correlation between predicted fatigue crack initiation lives and experimental data. Also, it has been shown that in the whole range of applied load levels, the least discrepancy between predicted fatigue lives and experimental data is related to the Smith–Watson–Topper criterion. Finally, an excellent agreement was found in predicting the location of the crack tips using the Fatemi–Socie criterion in both types of specimens.