Stress intensity factor solutions for estimation of fatigue lives of laser welds in lap-shear specimens

Fatigue behavior of laser welds in lap-shear specimens of high strength low alloy (HSLA) steel is investigated based on experimental observations and two fatigue life estimation models. Fatigue experiments of laser welded lap-shear specimens are first reviewed. Analytical stress intensity factor solutions for laser welded lap-shear specimens based on the beam bending theory are derived and compared with the analytical solutions for two semi-infinite solids with connection. Finite element analyses of laser welded lap-shear specimens with different weld widths were also conducted to obtain the stress intensity factor solutions. Approximate closed-form stress intensity factor solutions based on the results of the finite element analyses in combination with the analytical solutions based on the beam bending theory and Westergaard stress function for a full range of the normalized weld widths are developed for future engineering applications. Next, finite element analyses for laser welded lap-shear specimens with three weld widths were conducted to obtain the local stress intensity factor solutions for kinked cracks as functions of the kink length. The computational results indicate that the kinked cracks are under dominant mode I loading conditions and the normalized local stress intensity factor solutions can be used in combination with the global stress intensity factor solutions to estimate fatigue lives of laser welds with the weld width as small as the sheet thickness. The global stress intensity factor solutions and the local stress intensity factor solutions for vanishing and finite kinked cracks are then adopted in a fatigue crack growth model to estimate the fatigue lives of the laser welds. Also, a structural stress model based on the beam bending theory is adopted to estimate the fatigue lives of the welds. The fatigue life estimations based on the kinked fatigue crack growth model agree well with the experimental results whereas the fatigue life estimations based on the structural stress model agree with the experimental results under larger load ranges but are higher than the experimental results under smaller load ranges.