FATIGUE STRENGTH OF BUTT WELDS.

In this paper the effect of distortion and the way to take this into consideration in evaluating the fatigue strength are discussed. In the investigation carried out on the ship building steel, with three different welding processes, the submerged arc welding (SAW) showed distortion which could possibly be the reason for the reduced fatigue strength. This example clearly shows that in evaluating the fatigue strength of welded joints, all possible stresses that are induced due to loading as well as weld geometry must be taken into consideration.