Fatigue behaviour of out-of-plane gusset joints with one-side fillet weld

Abstract

In previous studies, many fatigue tests have been performed to investigate the fatigue behaviour of out-of-plane gusset welded joints. However, fatigue behaviour of out-of-plane gusset joints with a one-side fillet weld has not yet been clarified sufficiently. In this research, in order to quantitatively clarify the behaviour, welding residual stress at the weld toes of the joint was measured by a cutting method. In addition to this, fatigue tests were carried out on the joints with a one-side weld and turn-around weld. The plate thickness is 9 mm and the weld size is 10 mm. Moreover, finite element stress analyses were conducted on the test specimen models and parametric models with different main plate and gusset plate thickness. Their results show that fatigue cracks for out-of-plane gusset joints with a one-side fillet weld initiate from both weld toes at the start and end points of weld beads and non-penetration weld of the gusset side. Also, the crack initiation points are different depending on the weld arrangement; however, their fatigue strengths are almost same.