Hot-spot localisation according to the critical plane-based approach

The tubular welded joints in H-shaped structural components of agricultural sprayers are responsible for failure and the localisation of hot-spots is very important in multiaxial fatigue assessment of such components. Therefore, the purpose of the present paper is to develop a novel approach both to localize hot-spots in tubular welded joints and to estimate the initial crack growth direction. Such an approach is based on the application of the hot-spot stress approach together with the multiaxial critical plane-based criterion proposed by Carpinteri et al. Comparison between experimental data and numerical results has shown a satisfactory agreement in terms of both hot-spots localisation and initial crack growth direction evaluation.