Fatigue behaviour of a welded I-section under a line load in compression

The test results show that, in some cases the cracks in the weld, at the weld toe with the web or with the flange initiate and grow from one side to about 50 to 60% of the web thickness and then stop. However, at the weld toe with the flange the cracks grow sometimes from both sides but with the cracks at one side having a small length and/or a small depth. The minimum ratio in life between crack initiation and maximum crack was a factor 1.2 for cracks occurring at one side only and 1.5 to 3.1 for cracks at both sides.