International Journal of Fatigue 23 (2001) 713–721

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Fatigue strength of fillet welded structural steels: finite elements,

strain gauges and reality
B. Atzori *, G. Meneghetti
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Padova, via Venezia, 1 – 35131 Padova, Italy

Received 8 March 2000; received in revised form 20 November 2000; accepted 12 March 2001

Abstract

This work analyses the influence of geometry, residual welding stresses and secondary bending effects on the fatigue strength
of fillet welded joints made of structural steels. Joints with main plate thicknesses ranging from 10 to 100 mm subjected both to
axial and to bending load with load ratios between ⫺1 and 0.1 were considered. The experimental results were taken from the
literature and then re-analysed in terms of local stress field intensity instead of nominal stress. This approach led to the definition
of a new unified scatter band valid for structural steels, similar to that defined in the past for welded joints but with new characteristic
parameters. The application of the scatter band to local strain fields evaluated by numerical analyses or measured by strain gauges
is also discussed.  2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Fatigue; Welded joints; Residual stresses; Local approach; Strain gauges

1. Introduction
The local stress field approach to predict the fatigue
strength of severely notched components, such as welded
joints, is well known and widely adopted. An extensive
review of the state of the art on this matter was recently
presented in Ref. [1].
This approach was applied in Ref. [2] to derive the
fatigue curve of transverse non-load carrying fillet
welded joints made of structural steels. Basically, the
unified scatter band already proposed by Haibach [3]
was calibrated to interpret the fatigue strength in terms
of local strain. The fatigue curve was derived for as-
welded steel joints subjected to load ratio R=0 and is
reported in Fig. 1. The ordinate of the plot reports the
strain range ⌬⑀a divided by the reference value ⌬⑀A at
2×106 cycles. This curve allows us to predict the fatigue
life of the joint, provided that the numerical or experi-
mental evaluation of the local strain near to the weld toe
is performed within the zone where the strain field can
be described by the exponential law ⑀x×x0.326=constant
* Corresponding author. Tel. +39-04-9827-6700; fax: +39-04-
9827-6785.
E-mail address: giovannim@dim.unipd.it (B. Atzori).
[2], where x is the distance from the weld toe. If the
evaluation of the local strain is performed outside this
zone, as frequently happens when strain gauges are used,
the reference values of the strain range given in Fig. 1
do not hold any more.
In this paper an analysis of the influence of the weld-
ing residual stresses on fatigue strength will be perfor-
med disregarding the unified scatter band as proposed
by Haibach [3]. In fact it is believed that, since the
experimental results analysed in this work are more
numerous than those analysed in Ref. [2], a new unified
scatter band could be proposed on the basis of a more
sound theoretical background.
2. Transverse non-load carrying fillet welded joints
The experimental results obtained by Gurney [4] and
Maddox [5] will be considered here. The welded details
consisted of 13-to-100 mm thick mild steel plates with
transverse attachments welded on each surface, as rep-
resented in Fig. 2. The specimens were subjected to con-
stant amplitude pulsating tension fatigue tests. Their geo-
metric parameters and the fatigue test results in terms of
mean nominal stress amplitude sA at a reference number
of cycles of 2×106 are reported in Table 1. The table

0142-1123/01/$ - see front matter  2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 1 4 2 - 1 1 2 3 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 0 2 8 - 7
714 B. Atzori, G. Meneghetti / International Journal of Fatigue 23 (2001) 713–721

Fig. 1. Calibration of the unified scatter band proposed by Haibach [3] in terms of strain range values ⌬⑀A at different distances from the weld
toe [2].

Table 1
Experimental fatigue strength sA in MPa (N=2×106 cycles) for cruci-
form joints (R=0–0.1) (AW, as-welded; SR, stress relieved)

T t b Gurney [4] Maddox [5] Dattoma et

(mm) (mm) (mm) al. [6,7]
AW SR AW SR AW

13 10 8 50.5 62.5 58.8 54.1

38 13 8 46.5 – – –
50 13 8 – – – 64.1
100 13 8 – 63 – 55.5
50 50 16 – – 39.5 43.9
100 50 16 – – 36.8 48.4
13 3 5 60.5 – – –
25 3 5 61 73.5 – –
50 3 5 – 71.5 – – –
100 3 5 62 71.0 – –
25 32 9 44 – – –
25 13 10 – 62 – –
Fig. 2. Adopted symbols and designation to describe the joint 25 220 15 40 48 – –
geometry. 38 220 15 33.5 – – –
50 220 15 – 37.5 – –
100 220 15 27.5 – – –
reports also some additional experimental results 100 200 15 – 33 – –
obtained by other authors on the same joint geometries 17 17 12 52.6
and material [6,7]. 10 10 9 65.8
The local stress field near to the weld toe, which the 15 15 9 57
fatigue strength depends on, can be directly calculated
for each geometry by means of linear elastic finite
element analysis or by using the coefficients proposed in Ref. [8]. Then the local stress amplitudes can be re-
in Ref. [8]. As an example, Fig. 3 compares the local arranged in terms of local strain amplitude by introduc-
stress fields as calculated by numerical and analytical ing either the elastic modulus E=206,000 MPa, under the
methods. Thus the nominal stress amplitude can be eas- hypothesis of plane stress state, or the fictitious value
ily transformed into the local stress amplitude at a given E⬘=E/(1⫺n2), under the hypothesis of plane strain. In
distance x from the weld toe, provided that x is suf- this work, due to the specimen geometries and to the
ficiently small so that the actual linear elastic stress field distance of the strain gauge locations from the weld toe,
(represented by the finite element results in Fig. 3) has a plane stress state was believed to be more representa-
matched the asymptotic exponential law, represented in tive of the experimental conditions.
Fig. 3 by the straight line. This asymptotic function cor- Fig. 4 reports the experimental values obtained in
responds to the stress field intensity parameter K1 quoted Refs. [4–7] re-arranged in terms of local elastically cal-
 B. Atzori, G. Meneghetti / International Journal of Fatigue 23 (2001) 713–721 715

Fig. 3. Comparison between numerical results and analytical approach proposed in Ref. [8].

Fig. 4. Experimental results taken from literature in terms of local strain amplitude calculated at 0.01 mm from the weld toe (filled markers refer
to the experimental results not used in the subsequent definition of the unified scatter band).

culated strain amplitude. Different markers were used to
indicate stress relieved or as-welded specimens. Among
the latter, the experimental results reported in Refs. [4,5]
with a load ratio R=0 were further distinguished by those
obtained in Refs. [6,7] with a load ratio R=0.1. Fig. 4
highlights that, for Rⱖ0, the stress relieving heat treat-
ment does not influence the fatigue strength in the finite
life region, as already known from literature (see for
example Ref. [9]). To determine the unified scatter band,
the homogeneous series of results only were considered,
i.e. those reported in Refs. [4,5]. The results plotted with
filled markers were not included in the statistical analy-
sis, because they are close to the fatigue limit (roughly
identified by the run out tests) and do not fall in the
linear region fitted by the Woehler slope. The same fig-
ure shows that the most important consequence of the
stress relieving treatment is the increase of the fatigue
limit. The sloping part of the Woehler curve is
unchanged. As a consequence, the knee point moves
towards a lower number of cycles. The position of the
knee point for as welded specimens depends on the
amount of welding residual stress, which in turn depends
mainly on the joint geometry and on the welding tech-
nology. Therefore it is not possible to extend the present
results to other joint geometries in terms of improvement
in the fatigue limit and position of the knee point of
the Woehler curve. In this work, the sloping part of the
Woehler curve only will be considered, taking as a refer-
ence value the fatigue strength at NA=2×106 cycles, as is
usual in some Design Standards (for example Ref. [10]).
Fig. 5 shows the fatigue curves for different prob-
abilities of survival as derived by analysing the selected
716 B. Atzori, G. Meneghetti / International Journal of Fatigue 23 (2001) 713–721
Fig. 5. Woehler curves for different probabilities of survival fitting 116 experimental results.
experimental data. The hypotheses assumed in the stat-
istical analysis were a log-normal distribution of the
number of cycles with respect to the strain amplitude.
Moreover, for the sake of simplicity and due to the trend
of the experimental results under consideration, it was
assumed that there was a constant value of the scatter
in the strain levels. Other authors [3] proposed a unified
scatter band which increases as the stress level
decreases, like that reported in the previous Fig. 1. As
anticipated, the distance from the weld toe where the
strain was calculated was chosen very small in order to
allow the local stress field to match the asymptotic value
for all the joint geometries considered. However the cal-
culated values at 0.01 mm can be easily re-calculated for
other distances from the weld toe on the basis of the
exponential law: ⑀x×x0.326=constant. On the other hand,
the soundness of the strain values calculated or measured
at greater distances has to be carefully analysed and will
be discussed subsequently.
The results of the statistical analysis, re-arranged in
terms of relative stress range, suggest the new unified
scatter band reported in Fig. 6. It is valid for welded
joints in structural steel, both in the as-welded and in
the stress relieved condition. A comparison can be done
with the unified scatter band proposed by Haibach [3],
based on strain gauge measurements near to the weld
toe and already reported in Fig. 1. The Woehler curve
slope, equal to 2.82 in Fig. 5 as calculated from the stat-
istical analysis, was rounded to the value of 3.0. This
does not change substantially the results of the previous
analysis, as demonstrated by Fig. 7.
3. “V” type joints
The experimental results obtained by Atzori and Haib-
ach [9] on specimens consisting of two structural steel
plates welded as shown in Fig. 8 were taken into
account. Both as-welded and stress relieved joints were
fatigue tested by applying a constant amplitude flexural
load with load ratios equal to 0 and ⫺1. The fatigue tests
were supported by strain gauge measurements near to
the weld toe and by finite element numerical analyses.
The geometric parameters of the test series and the mean
fatigue strengths at 2×106 cycles are reported in Table 2.
Fig. 9 compares the experimental and numerical
strains, as reported in Ref. [9]. To show the influence of
the distance from the weld toe where the local strain is
calculated or measured, the fatigue strength in terms of
sA or ⑀A at 2×106 cycles will be taken into account
instead of the entire Woehler curve. First of all, by using
the results reported in Table 2 in terms of nominal stress
amplitude and by means of linear elastic finite element
analyses, the local strain fields corresponding to the
mean fatigue strength at 2×106 cycles were calculated
and are reported in Fig. 10a and b. In particular Fig. 10a
reports all the results relative to the as-welded specimens
and those relative to the stress-relieved specimens tested
with R=0. Instead Fig. 10b reports the results relative to
the stress-relieved specimens tested with R=⫺1 and
shows a comparison with those reported in Fig. 10a. This
separation was adopted on the basis of the present
Fatigue Design Standards [10,11], according to which
the fatigue strength increases if an effective stress reliev-
ing treatment is made, provided that the applied nominal
stress range has a compressive component.
The results relative to the series plotted with a dotted
line in Fig. 10a were not considered in the analysis
because their fatigue strength (Table 2) shows the pres-
ence, at the crack intiation position, of compressive and
not tensile residual stresses, as is usual for welded joints.
In the same figure the scatter of the fatigue strength cal-
culated for axially loaded joints is also reported. As a
comparison the mean line of the available results is also
 B. Atzori, G. Meneghetti / International Journal of Fatigue 23 (2001) 713–721 717

Fig. 6. Proposed unified scatter band for fillet welded joints in structural steel.

Fig. 7. Application of the proposed unified scatter band (Fig. 6) to the experimental results reported in Fig. 5.

Table 2
Experimental fatigue strength sA in MPa (NA=2×106 cycles) for V type
joints as reported in Ref. [9] (AW, as-welded; SR, stress relieved)

T a (mm) a/T R=⫺1 R=0

(mm)

AW SR AW SR

10 4 0.4 131.8 95.8 96.8 81.4

50 20 0.4 56.7 75.2 52.5 53.6
50 35 0.7 49.4 67.0 46.4 45.3

Fig. 8. Adopted symbols to describe “V” type joint geometry.

plotted, resulting in a mean fatigue strength of
⑀A,0.01=1874m⑀ calculated at 0.01 mm from the weld toe.
Fig. 10a shows a better fatigue behaviour for the bend-
ing-loaded specimens than for the axially loaded ones.
That is believed to be due to secondary bending effects
present in the axially loaded specimens, as will be dis-
cussed later on.
Finally, Fig. 10a and b clearly shows that in general
the strain values at a distance equal to 2–3 mm from the
weld toe or greater lead to an incorrect estimation of the
718 B. Atzori, G. Meneghetti / International Journal of Fatigue 23 (2001) 713–721
Fig. 9. Comparison between strain gauge measurements and finite element results for V type joints [9].
local stress field. At a fixed distance from the weld toe,
the error depends on the joint geometry and absolute
dimensions.
4. Comparison between the local stress field
approach and the “local” strain measurement
approach
An experimental approach based on the strain
measurement near to the weld toe is widely adopted, in
particular when geometrically complex welded compo-
nents are concerned. This approach, which was initially
proposed by Haibach [3], could be interpreted as the
experimental application of the numerical local stress
field approach previously described, but this is not true.
The main reason is that for the most common ranges of
thicknesses and joint geometries it is not possible in a
standard application (i.e. strain gauge location at 2–
3 mm from the weld toe) to measure the strain close
enough to the weld toe that the local strain field has
matched its asymptotic value. By using miniature strain
gauges close to the toe [12] the distance can drop to few
tenths of a millimetre, but these are special applications.
Thus the measured values cannot be directly compared
with the local strain values found in this work. However
strain gauge measurements allow us to take into account
the secondary bending effects that occur in actual joints,
which depend on joint geometry, loading conditions and
welding procedure. On the other hand, numerical analy-
ses do not take into account secondary bending effects,
since the structural detail is calculated as if it were geo-
metrically perfect. In the following, the two approaches
will be discussed and compared with reference to the
fatigue test results and the extensive strain gauge
measurements reported in Refs. [6,7].
First of all, we estimated the contribution of the sec-
ondary bending due to geometrical imperfections intro-
duced in the manufacturing of some axially loaded cruci-
form joint tested in Ref. [7]. Since the authors measured
the strain in the vicinity of the weld toe on both surfaces
of the main plate, then we were able to estimate a sec-
ondary bending contribution of about 10–15% of the
nominal stress. Averaging the measured strains on the
opposite surfaces, we verified that the experimental
values are close to those predicted by a numerical analy-
sis.
The fatigue strength results reported in Refs. [6,7] in
terms of nominal stress amplitude were re-arranged in
Fig. 11 in terms of local strain amplitude at 0.01 mm
from the weld toe. Doing so, it was possible to draw a
unique Woehler curve characterised by the value of
⑀A=1616m⑀ at 2×106 cycles with a 50% probability of
survival. Anyway, since the fatigue strength depends on
the actual local strain field, it is necessary to evaluate
the secondary bending contribution to derive the actual
local strains from the nominal stresses.
Fig. 12 reports with continuous lines the local strain
field numerically evaluated for each test series from
Refs. [6,7] on the basis of the experimental fatigue
strength sA already reported in Table 1. In the same fig-
ure the characteristic strain value at 2×106 cycles for all
geometries measured in the same references at 2.5 mm
from the weld toe is also reported. This value, unlike
the curves derived from nominal stresses, takes into
account the secondary bending contribution. If we
assume the same percentage contribution of the second-
ary bending between the weld toe and the strain gauge
 B. Atzori, G. Meneghetti / International Journal of Fatigue 23 (2001) 713–721 719

Fig. 10. (a) Local strain fields at 2×106 cycles for V type joints both as-welded (loaded with R=⫺1 and R=0) and stress relieved (loaded with
R=0). (b) Local strain fields at 2×106 cycles for stress relieved V type joints loaded with R=⫺1.

location (about 2–3 mm from the weld toe as suggested
in the literature), then the actual local strain field can be
derived simply by imposing that the calculated strain
fields intersect the measured strain value. By applying
this procedure, the actual local strain fields, plotted with
dotted lines in Fig. 12, could be derived from the
numerical strain fields by requiring that the latter fields
intersect the measured strain ⑀A=376m⑀ at the distance
of 2.5 mm from the weld toe. The amount of secondary
bending affecting the specimens tested in Refs. [6,7]
could then be estimated to be about 10–15% of the nomi-
nal axial strain. Fig. 12 shows also that the local strain
values at x=0.01 mm from the weld toe, calculated neg-
lecting the secondary bending, are in good agreement
with the previous results reported in Fig. 5 and summar-
ised in Fig. 12 in terms of mean strain amplitude
(⑀A=1324m⑀) and scatter band. Conversely, if the sec-
ondary bending is taken into account, the local strain
fields increase and match the value of 1874m⑀ at
0.01 mm, relative to the V type specimens (see Fig. 10a),
which were not subjected to secondary bending due to
the load condition.
Concerning the effect of the strain gauge location,
generally the experimental value is too far from the weld
toe as compared with the distance at which the local
strain field reaches the asymptotic exponential law. Fig.
13 reports the stress fields previously plotted in Figs.
10a,b and 12, but normalised with respect to the value
at x=0.01 mm. The figure shows that the strain values
evaluated at x=2.5 mm from the weld toe can be quite
different from one another, even if the local field, which
the fatigue strength depends on, is the same. Moreover
they all are different from the theoretical value, which
can be read at x=2.5 mm on the line representing the
exponential local strain field. The error in the local strain
estimation depends on the joint geometry and absolute
dimensions, being lower for joints of bigger absolute
dimensions. Thus a direct comparison of the strain gauge
720 B. Atzori, G. Meneghetti / International Journal of Fatigue 23 (2001) 713–721

Fig. 11. Experimental results reported in Refs. [6,7] re-arranged in terms of local strain amplitude calculated at x=0.01 mm from the weld toe.

Fig. 12. Numerical fatigue strength fields at 2×106 cycles evaluated from experimental values of sA (see Table 1) as compared with values derived
in this paper.

measurements with the values found in this work would 5. Conclusions

lead to incorrect fatigue strength predictions, even
though on the safe side. In particular for cruciform joints
with main plate thickness ranging from 10 to 15 mm,
the difference between theoretical and measured strain
would be about 30%. Moreover the “local” strain values
measured on a particular joint geometry lead to an overe-
stimation of the fatigue strength if applied to joints con-
sisting of thicker plates (non-safe side predictions) and
to an underestimation of the fatigue strength if applied
to thinner plates (safe side predictions).
In this paper the effect of a stress relieving heat treat-
ment on the fatigue strength of fillet welded joints in
structural steel was analysed. It was found that for load
ratios greater than zero, the stress-relieving treatment
does not affect the sloping part of the Woehler curve,
but enhances the fatigue limit. Thus the knee point of the
Woehler curve moves towards a lower number of cycles.
Then a unified scatter band in terms of local strain,
valid for structural steels, was determined by analysing
 B. Atzori, G. Meneghetti / International Journal of Fatigue 23 (2001) 713–721
Fig. 13. Local strain fields normalised with respect to the strain value at x=0.01 mm.
experimental results taken from the literature and
obtained on transverse non-load carrying fillet welded
joints subjected to fully tensile fatigue tests. Both as-
welded and stress relieved joints were considered and
the results allowed us to find the critical local stress field,
which defines the fatigue strength of fillet welded joints
in structural steel.
The local stress field approach was finally compared
with that proposed in the literature to predict the fatigue
strength on the basis of strain gauge measurements near
to the weld toe. In general terms, the strain gauge
location, which in standard applications cannot be nearer
than 2–3 mm to the weld toe, is usually too far to allow
measurement of the strain within the asymptotic local
field, which the fatigue strength depends on. As a conse-
quence, the strain value, as measured by means of strain
gauges near to the weld toe, does not allow accurate
fatigue strength predictions if applied to welded joints
of different geometries and different absolute dimen-
sions. In particular, the adoption of the same critical
“local” strain value for thicker joints lead to unsafe
fatigue strength predictions. Differently, deriving the
local field intensity from the strain gauge measurements
leads to overestimation of the actual local strain field
and then again to incorrect fatigue behaviour predictions,
even if on the safe side.
Conversely, strain gauge measurements in the vicinity
of the weld toe were used to calibrate the numerical
analyses of the local stress field in order to account for
the secondary bending effects due to manufacturing
imperfections, showing that experimental and numerical
analyses could give different indications also for the
presence of a secondary bending.
721
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