A Study on Fatigue Crack Growth Parameters for Fatigue Life Assessment based on Fracture Mechanics

Abstract

Recent studies on the fatigue assessment of high strength steel weld based on the fracture mechanics have frequently raised the problems related to the conservatism in the fatigue crack growth rate specified in the relevant design code. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of the fatigue crack growth parameter on the fatigue life for the low carbon steel weld. In order to do it, the fatigue tests with the constant stress ratio were performed to evaluate the fatigue crack growth rate in the butt weld of SM490. And the fatigue crack growth parameters of the weld were evaluated in accordance with ASTM E647. From the comparative fatigue assessment results, it was found that the fatigue crack growth rate specified in the relevant design code was too conservative to estimate the residual fatigue life of welded structure. So, in order to get the more reliable results, it was recommended that the fatigue life estimation based on the fracture mechanics be performed with the fatigue crack growth parameter specified by test.