WEIGHT FUNCTIONS AND STRESS INTENSITY FACTORS FOR SEMI-ELLIPTICAL CRACKS IN T-PLATE WELDED JOINTS

Weight functions were derived for the deepest point and surface point of a semi-elliptical surface crack in T-plate joints with weld angles between 0 and 45°. These weight functions were derived from reference stress intensity factor solutions obtained from three-dimensional finite element calculations, and verified using stress intensity factors for different non-linear stress fields and for far-field tension and bending cases. The differences between the weight function predictions and the finite element data were less than 10%. They are suitable for semi-elliptical surface cracks with aspect ratios in the range 0.05 ≤ a/c ≤ 1, together with relative depths 0 ≤ a/t ≤ 0.6 and weld angles 0 ≤ φ ≤ 45°.