A State of the Art Review of Fillet Welded Joints

Fillet welded joints are commonly used in steel structures for various engineering applications such as buildings, bridges, railways, ships, and marine structures. Fillet welded joints are generally subjected to static and fatigue loading, resulting in failures of such welded joints. A number of experimental and numerical investigations on the strength and failure behaviour of fillet welded joints have been published. This paper presents a comprehensive review of research results on the static strength, fatigue life, and thermal performance of fillet welded joints. The review covers the various influential factors, such as loading direction, weld geometry, grades of steel, filler materials, welding process, weld penetration, strength mismatch of weld metal, and post-welded treatment. In total, 100 papers were critically reviewed, which were published from 1970 till date. The key findings and research developments on fillet welded joints are summarised. It was found that the transverse fillet welded joints have a higher static strength than the longitudinal fillet welded joints. Filler materials, post-welded treatment, and penetration of weld metal can offer significant strength enhancements in terms of their static and fatigue strength. Lastly, research gaps have been found in the existing body of knowledge, which will help guide future research.