Fatigue life prediction of welded ship details

Ship structures are submitted to variable cyclic loading during navigation. The cyclic motion of waves induces variable and complex loadings in the structure, which could generate fatigue damage. Moreover, most of these metallic structures are welded assemblies. This technique generates local stress concentrations at the weld toe, which becomes a critical area regarding fatigue. In previous works, a methodology to predict fatigue life was developed and tested on butt-welded and cruciform joints. The present work focuses on other welded assemblies in order to extend fatigue crack initiation life evaluation to a wider range of ship details. The strategy could be split into two steps. First, a finite element calculation is performed under constant or variable amplitude loadings, in order to analyze the elastic shakedown of the structure. To characterize the material heterogeneity of the welded joint, experimental tests together with micro-hardness measurements, are performed on a simulated heat-affected zone. If there is a shakedown in the structure, a post-treatment is applied to predict the fatigue crack initiation. It is based on a two-scale damage model, initially developed by Lemaitre et al. and again includes the heterogeneity of fatigue properties. To validate this methodology, some experimental tests have been performed on welded assemblies which are typical of shipbuilding applications, using a fatigue machine. These comparisons between experimental and numerical fatigue lives are encouraging.

► A methodology to predict the fatigue crack initiation life of welded components has been developed. ► An application dedicated to representative welded ship details was investigated. ► The main characteristics of welded joints were taken into account. ► The material heterogeneity was introduced starting from micro-hardness measurements. ► A good correlation was observed between numerical and experimental fatigue lives.