The notch stress approach for fatigue assessment of welded joints is based on the highest elastic stress at the weld toe or root. In order to avoid arbitrary or infinite stress results, a rounded shape with a reference radius instead of the actual sharp toe or root is usually assumed. IIW recommendations for the fatigue assessment of welded structures by notch stress analysis reviews different proposals for reference radii together with associated S-N curves. Detailed recommendations are given for the numerical analysis of notch stress by the finite or boundary element method. Several aspects...

The weld toe is a primary source of fatigue cracking because of the severity of the stress concentration it produces. Weld toe improvement can increase the fatigue strength of new structures significantly. It can also be used to repair or upgrade existing structures. However, in practice there have been wide variations in the actual improvements in fatigue strength achieved. Based on an extensive testing programme organised by the IIW, this report reviews the main methods for weld toe improvement to increase fatigue strength: burr grinding, TIG dressing and hammer and needle peening. The...