Title: Probabilistic fatigue life prediction of spot-welded joints

Authors: S. Mahadevan, K. Ni

Addresses: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA

Abstract: A probabilistic fatigue life prediction methodology for spot-welded joints under variable amplitude loading history is presented. The loading history is multi-axial and is obtained from transient response analysis of a vehicle model. A 3-D finite element (FE) model of a simplified joint with four spot welds is developed first to perform static stress analysis. Then, the probabilistic Miner|s rule is combined with this stress analysis result to develop a probabilistic fatigue life prediction methodology for the spot weld. This new method is implemented with MSC/FATIGUE and is useful for reliability assessment of spot-welded joints against fatigue.

Keywords: fatigue life prediction; finite elements; multi-axial loading; probabilistic Miner|s rule; spot-welded joint; variable amplitude loading.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMPT.2003.003466

International Journal of Materials and Product Technology, 2003 Vol.19 No.6, pp.479 - 497

Published online: 10 Sep 2003 *

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