The effect of cold forming residual stresses in local fatigue approaches: A numerical perspective

Abstract

Thin-walled structures generally rely on cold-formed mild steel profiles. Due to cold forming, a significant formation of residual stresses impacts their overall fatigue behaviour. In this work, a state-of-the-art framework for fatigue life prediction is proposed and applied to both roll-formed and press-braked full-scale profiles. In summary, the profile’s manufacturing process is numerically simulated to obtain a representative residual stress field. These results are then used as the initial state during a subsequent structural and fatigue analysis. A clear detrimental residual stress effect is verified. Importantly, however, is to note that prediction accuracy increases significantly when these effects are considered.