Fatigue behaviour of welded structural steel subjected to hot-dip galvanization process

This paper investigates the effect of a galvanizing coating on the fatigue strength of S355 structural steel. While in the literature some results from fatigue tests made on unnotched specimens can be found, very few results are available dealing with notched components and, at the best of authors' knowledge, no results are available dealing with welded joints. The aim of the present paper is to partially fill this lack of knowledge. A comparison is carried out, between hot dip galvanized fillet welded cruciform joints made by S355 structural steel and not treated welded joints characterized by the same geometry, subjected to a load cycle R=0.34 new experimental data are summarized in the present contribution, in terms of stress range Δσ and averaged stress energy density range ΔW‾ in a control volume of radius R0=0.28mm.