Weld root fatigue assessment of load-carrying fillet welded joints: 4R method compared to other methods

This paper comprises fatigue analyses for load-carrying fillet welded joints (LCFWJs) using literature data. The 4R method, which enabled a thorough re-evaluation of LCFWJs, was employed to highlight the contrasts between various assessment techniques, namely the nominal stress, effective notch stress, equivalent effective stress, and critical distance methods. The 4R method led to a conservative estimate for the weld root fatigue strength of the joints. The results from the comparison of the applied assessment methods revealed that the 4R method can be used to reduce the scatter value, thereby improving the fatigue evaluation of weld root failure in LCFWJs.