Comparison of hot spot stress evaluation methods for welded structures

ABSTRACTIn this paper, different evaluation methods of Hot Spot Stresses (HSS) have been applied to four different welded structure details in order to compare them and to illustrate their differences. The HSSs at failure-critical locations were calculated by means of a series of finite element analyses. There was good overall agreement between calculated and experimentally determined HSS on the critical locations. While different methods and procedures exist for the computation of the structural hot-spot stress at welded joints, the recommendations within the International Institute of Welding (IIW) guideline concerning the ‘Hot Spot Stress’ approach were found to give good reference stress approximations for fatigue-loaded welded joints. This paper recommends and suggests an appropriate finite element modeling and hot spot stress evaluation technique based on round-robin stress analyses and experimental results of several welded structure details.