Engineering with Computers (2003) 19: 142–151

DOI 10.1007/s00366-003-0253-3

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

J. Rudolph · E. Weiß · M. Forster

Modeling of welded joints for design against fatigue

Received: 15 March 2002 / Accepted: 19 December 2002

 Springer-Verlag London Limited 2003

Abstract Historically, design against fatigue of welded
joints is widely based on the nominal stress approach with
categorized structural details and appropriate S-N-curves
without any need of detailed numerical analysis. Recently,
local approaches based on structural and notch stresses
are of growing importance for the lifetime assessment of
components without post-weld treatment for dominant
elastic material behavior in high cycle fatigue (HCF), and
for design against the endurance limit. Finally, high qual-
ity weld seams submitted to post-weld treatment such as
grinding and TIG or plasma dressing and/or operating
conditions in low cycle fatigue (LCF) with high plastic
deformations are advantageously considered within a
strain-based approach. A concept-conforming modeling
strategy as a relevant module of lifetime assessment is
required to ensure reliable and reproducible analysis
results for all local approaches of design against fatigue.
A unique modeling strategy based on an adaptive nominal
weld seam contour is derived covering a wide range of
typical welded pressure vessel joints for stress and strain
based approaches. An alternative method for the determi-
nation of structural stresses is proposed to avoid the uncer-
tainties of extrapolation and description of structural stiff-
ness.
Keywords BEA · FEA · Local approaches · Low
cycle fatigue (LCF) · Modeling · Strain-based approach
· Structural and notch stresses
approaches with specific applications, validity ranges and
modeling requirements (Radaj and Sonsino 1998).
According to Fig. 1, a basic classification has to be carried
out into the categories of stress/strain-based approaches
on the one hand, and crack propagation approaches on the
other (Radaj and Sonsino 1998). The primary feature of
stress life approaches is their range of validity presuming
dominant elastic behavior of the material and the
structure. Stress ranges used for estimating the fatigue life
of the component are therefore directly and linearly pro-
portional to the external loading applied
⌬␴ ~ ⌬L; ⌬␴ = c · ⌬L (1)
where c is the elastic transformation factor (Seeger 1996),
which can be determined by stress analysis or strain
measurement (Haibach 1968). The information from the
fatigue curve (S-N-curve), together with possible correc-
tion factors for mean stress and wall thickness, is used to
estimate the number of cycles to failure, or to derive a
complete component fatigue curve. Variable amplitude
loading requires the further application of a damage
accumulation hypothesis such as Miner’s rule (Radaj and
Sonsino 1998). The whole procedure for stress-based
approaches is shown in Fig. 2. Fracture of the component
or a defined crack length (e.g. half of the wall thickness)

Introduction
The design of welded pressure vessel components against
fatigue is currently based on different conceptual

J. Rudolph (쾷) · E. Weiß

Department of Biochemical and Chemical Engineering,
University of Dortmund, D-44221 Dortmund, Germany
E-mail: rudolph@ct.uni-dortmund.de

M. Forster
Fluxus Technology Ltd, Rendsburger Landstrasse 345, D-24111
Kiel, Germany Fig. 1 Fatigue of welded components – conceptual overview
 143
Fig. 2 Application of stress based approaches
schematically

is usually the limiting failure criterion in these cases. Gen- stresses is not always evident. Methods of linear or quad-
erally speaking, local yielding effects cause a difficulty ratic extrapolation, as well as direct analysis or measure-
for these approaches (Dowling 1999), and application of ment at a certain distance from the weld toe, are under
the stress-life curves should be limited to high cycle discussion at the moment. Code-based design mainly con-
fatigue (HCF) and endurance limit, as shown in Fig. 2. It tains a linear extrapolation procedure with points of extra-
is important to mention these restrictions as they are even polation at 0.4 * wall thickness and 1.0 * wall thickness,
neglected within the latest editions of pressure vessel respectively (prEN 13445–3 n.d.), as shown in Fig. 3 for
design codes, such as (AD-Merkblatt S2 (1998). a typical nozzle-to-vessel intersection. Typically, the
Among the methods mentioned, the nominal stress maximum structural stress is determined within shell or
approach can be considered as the most classical. It is coarse solid models from analytical expressions as closed
based on experimental or estimated (synthetic) fatigue form solutions or approximation formulae derived from
curves (Dowling 1999) without any need for detailed numerical analyses. The application of thin shell theory
numerical analysis. The elastic transformation factor of causes serious problems in the case of different structural
Eq. (1) reduces to the relation between external load and stiffness (e.g. thin nozzles on thick vessels), and thick
defined nominal stress in this case. The appropriate shells in general. Correction factors have to be introduced
component fatigue curve yields the admissible number of
cycles as a function of the nominal stress for a certain
probability of failure (Radaj and Sonsino 1998; Seeger
1996).
Structural and notch stress approaches take into account
the local features of the weld seam within the model and
analysis. Usually, these stresses – still being a linear func-
tion of external load – have to be determined by finite
or boundary element analysis. In these cases, the elastic
transformation factor c (Seeger 1996) of Eq. (1) represents
the structural or notch stress parameter. Detailed modeling
of weld toe notches is required to analyze highly local
notch stresses. The notch root radius is often considered
to be r = 1 mm within the worst case or mean value/scatter
assumptions (Radaj and Sonsino 1998) in connection with
appropriate fatigue curves such as FAT225, according to
Hobbacher (1996). Modeling requirements will be much
simpler if the design approach is based on structural
stresses at the weld toe. In this case, the model does not
have to reflect the detailed notch geometry of the weld toe.
Nevertheless, the determination of the required structural Fig. 3 Determination of structural and notch stresses at the weld toe
144

to account for size effects (AD-Merkblatt S2 1998; prEN
13445–3 n.d.; Hobbacher 1996).
One further important feature of stress life approaches
to design against fatigue is their common application for
weld seam qualities without post-weld treatment, where
inherent crack-like flaws readily precipitate fatigue crack-
ing (Maddox 1994). Fatigue curves with typical steep
slopes of m = 3 in double logarithmic scale and inclination
points to the endurance limit at NE = 2,000,000–5,000,000
(see Fig. 2) are used for components with negligible
initiation phase to an engineering crack size. They follow
the equation
adequate and realistic modeling strategy of the weld seam
region is a relevant module of lifetime assessment,
especially within this approach, but is desirable for all
other local approaches (structural and notch stress) as well
(Rudolph et al. 2001a). This strategy is outlined in its
essential parts within this article. For further reference,
Rudolph et al. (2001b) is recommended.
Derivation of the adaptive nominal and special weld
seam contours

冉冊
1 Within the developed strategy, the modeling of the weld
NE m seam contour emanates from a so-called ’adaptive nomi-
⌬␴ = ⌬␴E · (2) nal weld seam’, which is taken directly from the technical
N
drawing and which contains the main geometric para-
where ⌬␴ is the characteristic stress range of the fatigue meters like height and width. These global weld seam
model and ⌬␴E is the stress range at endurance limit. parameters already have a significant influence on the
These curves are invalid for high plastic deformations in fatigue behavior of the component, and are supposed to
low cycle fatigue (LCF). The extrapolation of these stress be responsible for size effects, as geometric similarity can
life curves to N = 100 load cycles in AD-Merkblatt S2 be lost with increasing wall thickness (Köttgen et al.
(1998) is inadmissible from a conceptual point of view. 1991). The geometry of the weld seam contour should be
The application of the concept of fatigue-curves with known prior to fatigue analysis.
uniform scatter bands, equal slope and point of inclination This nominal weld seam can be described by a simple
to the endurance limit (Haibach 1968) is recognized, set of geometric parameters (line segments L1 to L4 and
widespread and commonly used in the context of weld Keypoints K1 to K5), as shown in Fig. 4. The contour
seam qualities without post-weld treatment (Hobbacher line segments described by L1 to L4 can be of arbitrary
1996). The value of the endurance limit is the only shape (e.g. circular arcs or splines), and the introduction
remaining unknown to adjust and construct the fatigue of the angle ␥ covers a lot of important practical appli-
curves for the different structural details, as shown in Fig. cations such as oblique nozzles and butt welded joints.
2. A fracture mechanics approach is a common alternative Special weld seam contours for the different design
in these cases (Maddox 1994). approaches based on structural and notch stresses and
Obviously, this concept does not hold true for high strains can be derived from this adaptive nominal weld
quality weld seams submitted to post-welding operations seam. As an example, the contour of an idealized weld
such as disc or burr grinding and TIG or plasma dressing. seam for notch stress approaches is generated by introduc-
Crack initiation to an engineering size will occupy a sig- ing two fillet radii at the weld toes, R11 and R21, according
nificant portion of life, and the welded joint will behave to Fig. 4. For the special case R11 = R12 = 1 mm, this
more like a non-welded component (Maddox 1994), contour is in complete accordance with the modeling
including shallower slope m of the fatigue curve and shift-
ing of the point of inclination to the endurance limit
towards lower numbers of cycles (Seeger 1996). In these
cases, the local strain approach which describes the dam-
age phase of crack initiation to an engineering crack size
(0.25 mm depth and 0.5 mm length) is the appropriate
alternative. This method as a strain-based approach (Fig.
1) is as flexible as being applicable for the low cycle, high
cycle regimes and the endurance limit. The fatigue curves
are derived from non-notched and polished standard
specimens according to a standard testing procedure of the
American Society for the Testing of Materials (ASTM)
(ASTM 1997). The module numerical stress and strain
analysis is definitely based on detailed Finite-Elements or
Boundary Elements models containing all macroscopic
notches. Thus, the standard requirements of the calcu-
lation model are very high. In the context of welded press-
ure vessel components, this design concept is extremely
important for high quality weld seams, as all other
approaches are inappropriate especially for low cycle Fig. 4 Derivation of the adaptive nominal weld seam and special
operating conditions with high plastic deformations. An contours

requirements of the currently most advanced and
experimentally well supported mean value/scatter notch
stress approach according to Olivier et al. (1994), and the
fatigue curve FAT225 according to Hobbacher (1996),
respectively.
The modeling of weld seam contours within the local
strain approach is even more sophisticated as the
geometry description has to be as realistic as possible. A
minimum set of descriptive geometric parameters has
been derived for this type of weld seam for ground weld
toes. Weld toe grinding is a generally accepted method of
post-weld treatment to improve quality and fatigue
behavior. Guidelines and specifications are for instance
part of the European pressure vessel design code (prEN
13445–3 n.d.).
According to Fig. 4 the set of geometric parameters
consist of the primary weld toe radii, R11 and R21, the
secondary radii, R12 and R22, the notch depths, k1 and k2,
the height of the weld excess material, h, and a factor for
its possible excentricity e. The secondary radii, R12 and
R22, are usually very small. They avoid points of singular-
ities within the numerical analysis, and can alternatively
be replaced by a spline between the primary weld toe radii
and the adjacent line segments. The geometrical descrip-
tion of the weld excess metal and its combination with
the weld toe radii is based on a cubic spline with appropri-
ate slope at the end points. Within the developed modeling
strategy, this special weld contour is completely derived
from and connected to the nominal weld seam described
above, as can be seen in Fig. 4. Combined with guidelines
for FE- and BE-meshing, reproducible analysis results are
ensured within this strategy. Details of the geometry
description in general and within special preprocessors are
given in Rudolph et al. (2001b).
The complete grinding of the weld seam eliminating all
weld toe notches and creating a smooth and shallow notch
contour can be considered as an ideal but expensive post-
weld treatment. In the absence of further flaws, the
component will definitely behave like a non-welded
component if the basic requirements of weld seam quality
are respected. The code-based design using structural and
notch stresses is not applicable, or is much too conserva-
tive in this case. The derivation of the contour from the
nominal weld seam is done by simply introducing a fillet
radius, or alternatively, a spline between the line segments
L2 and L4 (see Fig. 5).
An alternative strategy for the determination of struc-
tural stresses within the hot-spot-method is closely con-
nected with this model, but is based on a completely dif-
ferent conceptual line. The basic idea is the elimination
of two serious deficiencies of the hot spot method as a
widespread variant of the structural stress approach: insuf-
ficient description of stiffness and thickness effects within
thin shell theory (FE-analysis based on shell elements,
closed form analytical solutions) and arbitrary definition
of locations for linear or quadratic extrapolation of the
course of stress according to Fig. 3. Therefore, it is rec-
ommended to use solid instead of shell models within the
numerical analysis of structural stresses, avoiding the
145
stiffness and thickness problems. Instead of the real weld
seam contour with sharp notches at the toes, it is proposed
to introduce the shallow fillet radius as explained before,
and shown on the right-hand side of Fig. 5. Within this
substitute model, the notch effects of the weld toes are
completely removed geometrically. The numerical analy-
sis of this singularity free model excludes the notch stress
fraction (approximately), as desired within the structural
stress approach and avoids the uncertainties of the extra-
polation procedure. For practical modeling, it is proposed
to combine line segments L1/L2 and L3/L4 and determine
the fillet radius R11 from
R11 = MIN(length L1; length L2) (3)
Structural stresses at the fictitious locations of the weld
toes can be directly determined at T1 (e.g. weld toe at the
vessel) and T2 (e.g. weld toe at the nozzle) according to
Fig. 5. No extrapolation or linearization procedure is
required. The structural influence on structural stresses is
considered appropriately only eliminating a small part of
the nominal weld seam as shown in Fig. 5 (hatched area).
The strategy has been applied successfully to an intersec-
tion of cylindrical nozzle and spherical vessel in Rudolph
et al. (2001b). Further development of the strategy based
on parametric studies of cylindrical nozzles on cylindrical
shells is reported in Rudolph et al. (2002).
Modeling and analysis of butt welded seams
The contours of butt welded seams can be derived from
the same adaptive nominal seam for the particular case of
an angle of 90 degrees, as shown in Fig. 6. The modeling
strategy is valid for both local stress and strain
approaches. The excess weld metal and its possible
excentricity (factor e) is included in the modeling strategy.
Different contours without and with undercut are equ-
ally covered.
As an example, the modeling strategy mentioned has
been applied to the FE- and BE- analysis of a special butt
welded joint submitted to tension load. The FE-analysis
was carried out using the ANSYS program, and an
element type with quadratic shape functions. The meshing
strategy in the region of maximum notch stresses is based
on a surface layer with elements of nearly quadratic shape
according to a validated non-adaptive meshing strategy
explained in detail in Weiß et al. (1999). This is extremely
important for notch stress analysis with significant gradi-
ents. To reduce the meshing labor cost, the transition grid
in regions with homogeneous stress distribution or low
stress gradients can be hybrid or triangular without loss
of accuracy Weiß et al. (1999). An experienced user of
commercial FE- or BE-software will be able to generate
the meshes shown in Fig. 7 within about 15 minutes.
For the first principal stress, a stress concentration fac-
tor (or elastic transformation factor c (Seeger 1996)) of
c = 2.774 with respect to the tension load is calculated.
The geometrical parameters are: wall thickness 10 mm,
height of excess weld metal 2 mm, width of excess weld
146
Fig. 5 Smoothing of weld toe notches

Fig. 6 Contour of butt welded seams for local

stress and strain approaches

Fig. 7 FE- and BE-analysis of butt

welded joint

metal 10 mm, weld toe notch radius 1 mm, depth of
undercut 0.5 mm. The secondary radius of 1 mm elimin-
ates all singularities from the model and the transition
between the weld toe and the weld excess metal is smooth
and tangential because of the spline approximation.
The comparative BE-analysis of the same weld detail
based on quadrilateral elements with quadratic shape
functions yields almost the same result with respect to
maximum notch stress concentration. The stress concen-
tration factor is 2.788. The commercial BE-code B3

within the CADFIX system was used for this analysis.
As can be seen in Fig. 7, a comparatively coarse surface
mesh is sufficient for notch stress results of high accuracy.
Modeling effort is confined to the surface of the structure.
As linearly elastic material behavior is assumed, the
analyses are carried out within seconds on a usual PC
platform (e.g. Intel Pentium 5, 512MB RAM).
Nozzle-to-vessel intersections within local stress and
strain approaches
Nozzle-to-vessel intersections are typical structural
components in pressure vessel technology. There is an
urgent need for safe and concept-conforming design
against fatigue of these special welded joints. The appli-
cation of local approaches is particularly difficult when
rotational symmetry is lost. Apart from simple shell mod-
els, detailed three-dimensional solid modeling strategies
have to be applied in these cases.
As one example, the 3D-solid model of a circular plate
with centred nozzle has been used as a starting point for
3D-FE- and BE meshing and notch stress analysis. The
weld seam contour of the nozzle-to-plate intersection has
been modeled according to the requirements of the local
strain approach according to Fig. 4. The solid model of
the weld seam is free of any geometric singularities as
sources of erroneous results of numerical analysis.
The essential details of the global geometry and the
detailed weld seam description are given in Table 1.
The modeling and meshing labor cost for the FE-analy-
sis (see Fig. 8) is higher than for the BE-analysis (see Fig.
9) due to the fact that interior volumes have to be meshed
adequately. As explained before, a hybrid meshing strat-
egy with a notch surface layer of nearly quadratic quadri-
lateral brick elements has been used for the FE-analysis.
The detailed model can be generated and meshed within
one hour. The FE-analysis will take about two hours. Iso-
paramatric elements with quadratic shape functions are
generally recommendable for notch stress analysis. In this
case, a unit pressure load of 1 N/mm2 yields a maximum
notch stress concentration or elastic transformation factor
(Seeger 1996) of 313.3 N/mm2. This result has been con-
firmed by a 2D-FE-analysis using plane solid elements
with rotational symmetry option. The maximum stress
result for the notched structure can be considered as
Table 1 Geometry data for nozzle to circular plate intersection
Wall thickness of plate t1 = 45 mm
Wall thickness of nozzle t2 = 10 mm
Outer diameter of nozzle d2 = 48.3 mm
Outer diameter of cylindrical shell d3 = 800 mm
Wall thickness of cylindrical shell t3 = 10 mm
Length of line segments L1 and L3 0.7 t2
Primary and secondary radii R = 1.0 mm
Undercut at weld toe towards plate k1 = 0.75 mm
Undercut at weld toe towards nozzle k2 = 0.5 mm
Weld excess material h = 1.5 mm
Factor of excentricity of weld excess material e = 0.25
147
highly accurate. Comparative 3D-BE-analysis is
extremely interesting for this example and shown in Fig.
9. As can be seen in the meshed model for 3D-BE-analy-
sis (Fig. 9), the grid can be much coarser compared to
FE-analysis, and there is no need to model the interior
volumes separately. Optionally, stress results for interior
points can be obtained if required for the calculation of
stress gradient effects or other purposes. The division of
the structure into subregions A and B is required for
numerical stability of the current version of the commer-
cial BE-code B3. The comparison of the maximum notch
stresses of the FE- and BE- analyses (313.3 N/mm2 for
FE and 309.9 N/mm2 for BE) shows that the results
obtained are nearly identical. Once again, the qualification
of the 3D-BEM for accurate notch stress analysis at mini-
mum modeling effort is proven impressively. Times of
modeling and execution are reduced to about one quarter
compared to the FE analysis.
In a next step, the more complicated 3D structure of a
nozzle-to-cylindrical vessel according to Fig. 3 has been
analyzed as a truly three-dimensional structure, which
cannot be generated by simple rotation of plane areas. In
this case, the nozzle with an outside diameter of 118 mm
is small compared to the vessel with 800 mm. The differ-
ence in wall thickness (5.6 mm and 10 mm, respectively)
also implies a change of the structural stiffness in the
region of intersection. A unit pressure load of 1 N/mm2
is to be applied.
Both weld seam contours derived in Fig. 4 are foreseen
for local stress and strain approaches. FE-modeling
becomes extremely tedious within the standard prepro-
cessor, especially for meshes consisting exclusively of
quadrilateral solid elements, as shown in Fig. 10. Mode-
ling times strongly depend upon the skills of the engineer
and the capabilities of the CAD or FE environment used.
It may easily take one working day to generate the com-
pletely parametric hexahedral mesh with surface layer in
the notched regions according to Fig. 10. Interfaces to spe-
cialized CAD-systems and the availability of automated
tools are vital for the widespread practical application of
the local notch stress approach. In this example, FE-mesh-
ing (nearby 58,000 nodes) was based exclusively on
quadrilateral solid elements. The standard brick elements
of the ANSYS program with linear and quadratic shape
functions have been used. A surface layer with four and
six elements, respectively, along the notch radius ensured
reproducible and consistent results for the notch stress
analysis. No further increase in notch stress concentration
is noted, although six elements are used along the weld
toe notches and the total number of nodes and elements
has been increased considerably. Computing time is
increased considerably as well. This would be a decisive
factor of influence in a nonlinear stress and strain analysis.
Linear finite elements analysis for this example (about five
hours’ execution time) yields a maximum principal stress
value of 129 N/mm2 for the weld toe, as well as for the
crotch corner according to Fig. 10. Both locations could
be the starting point for practical fatigue failure. Crack
initiation and propagation from the weld toe often depends
148
Fig. 8 3D-FE-analysis of a nozzle to circular
plate intersection
Fig. 9 Comparative 3D-BE-analysis
upon the distribution of microscopic defects such as
deposits of weld material within the region of macro-
scopic stress concentration. It is interesting to note that a
hybrid meshing strategy considerably diminishes the labor
cost for detailed modeling if applied appropriately. In this
case, a factor of 2 compared to the meshing strategy
exclusively based on hexahedral elements is estimated. Of
course, regions of high stress gradients have to be meshed
with well shaped quadrilaterals (2D) or hexahedrals (3D).
That is why the strategy of a notch surface layer has been
applied in the three-dimensional model. The maximum
principal stress value amounts to 130.8 N/mm2 compared
to 129 N/mm2 for the model introduced in Fig. 10. The
difference is negligible.
In a next step a weld seam model for the local strain
approach was generated using the same nozzle-to-cylin-
drical vessel intersection as an example. The weld seam
region was cut into slices (strategy cut) to model the con-
tour correctly in the circumferential direction. Within this
strategy, weld toe radii may even vary in the circumfer-
ential direction.
The basic model was generated within a CAD-system
and then transferred into CADfix for further processing
using the generic IGES format. The detailed weld model
was built from faces. The final valid solid is shown in
Fig. 11. It can be used directly for BE-meshing whereas a
reasonable FE-meshing is not possible, because of missing
interior volume divisions. As can be seen, the geometry
of the weld seam may even vary along the circumference
qualifying the strategy for the realistic description of non-
symmetric three-dimensional contours.
Of course, the parameters of mesh refinement have to

Fig. 10 3D-FE-analysis of a cylinder-cylinder
intersection based on notch stresses
Fig. 11 Detailed weld seam contour for a cylinder-cylinder intersection
be determined for the Boundary-Element-analysis. In a
first step, a coarse mesh with 683 nodes and 202 quadrilat-
eral elements with quadratic shape functions have been
used according to Fig. 12. Only four element divisions
were set along the circumference of the quarter model.
Numerical stability of the analysis requires the division
of the structure into three subregions. The analysis based
on the coarse mesh yielded a maximum stress value of
152 N/mm2 for the weld toe at the vessel, as shown in
Fig. 12. This time, the elastic stress concentration is much
higher at the weld toe than at the crotch corner. Fatigue
failure will emanate from the weld toe. In a comparative
study, mesh refinement concerned especially the circumf-
erencial direction where eight elements have been used.
The maximum stress concentration is slightly reduced due
to a smoother geometry description. With a maximum
value of 148.7 N/mm2 it does not differ very much from
the result of 152 N/mm2 for the coarse mesh.
Solid modeling in preparation of FE-meshing is
149
extremely tedious for this complicated three-dimensional
structure. The division of interior volumes for this purpose
is shown in Fig. 13 on the left-hand side. End points of
lines in the cross section are starting points for intersection
curves in the circumferencial direction. Each intersection
curve has to be constructed correctly by proper overlap
operations. A further problem is connected with surface
description by NURBS (Non Uniform Rational B-
Splines), which is sometimes not as accurate as being able
to model the complicated notch geometry although bor-
dering lines are constructed precisely. This problem is due
to the aspect ratio of the bordering lines and the curvature
of the complicated intersection with notch radius. The
intersection curves are extremely long compared to the
circular arc segments describing the weld toe notch.
Sometimes concave curvature of the surface description
by NURBS is changing to convex curvature along the cir-
cumference of the weld toe notch and the FE-meshing
operation may fail. To cure this problem, a partial cut
strategy (subdivions of the intersection curves) has been
applied for the surfaces concerned, as can be seen in Fig.
13 for the weld toe notches. The aspect ratio of the bor-
dering lines is significantly improved. Surface description
of the smaller surface regions becomes sufficiently accur-
ate, but labor cost for modeling is increased significantly.
Automated and parameterized tools as well as push-button
solutions are required for practical application. These can
be based both on Finite-Elements and Boundary-Elements
analyses (Rudolph et al. 2001a). As shown in the right
part of Fig. 13, the maximum first principle stress of
149.72 N/mm2 in the weld toe at the vessel for FE-analy-
sis (ANSYS) is in excellent accordance with the BE-
result (B3). The reduction of the problem dimension
(meshing of surfaces instead of volumes) is a strong argu-
ment for the application of the Boundary-Elements-
Method, especially in the context of complicated three-
dimensional structures such as the cylinder-cylinder-inter-
150
Fig. 12 3D-BE-analysis of a cylinder-cylinder
intersection
Fig. 13 Comparative 3D-FE-analysis
section of Figs 11–13. Boundary elements of the current
generation can obviously be applied for thin walled struc-
tures with sharp notches, as has been shown by direct
comparison with FE-results.
Results of both types of numerical stress and strain
analysis can directly be applied within the design against
fatigue according to local approaches (Dowling 1999), as
one important module of lifetime estimation.
Summary and Conclusions
Concept-conforming modeling of welded pressure vessel
joints has been identified as a significant factor for
improved lifetime assessment within local approaches of
design against fatigue. The strategy has been derived with
respect to typical welded pressure vessel components.
Welded joints have to be classified into categories with
and without post-weld treatment as the fatigue behavior,
and conceptual consequences are substantially different.
Concerning the numerical instruments, the definition of
clear qualitative and quantitative modeling, meshing and
analysis guidelines for Finite-Elements and Boundary-
Elements applications is indispensable. A flexible and
comprehensive modeling strategy based on a simple
adaptive nominal weld seam contour has been derived to
ensure reproducible analysis results for all kinds of local
approaches of design against fatigue. The uncertainties of
extrapolation procedures for determining structural
stresses at the weld toe can be avoided by the application
of solid models with bluntly notched fillet radii (Rudolph
et al. 1999). From a practical point of view, there is an
urgent need for efficient and applicable tools eliminating
the costs of labor for detailed 3D solid modeling and FE-
or BE-meshing. In this context, the qualification of the
Boundary-Elements-Method (BEM) as an efficient
numerical method for 3D notch stress analysis and a use-
ful complementation of standard Finite-Elements analysis
has been shown.
References
1 AD-Merkblatt S2 (1998) Berechnung auf Wechselbeanspruchung. AD-
Regelwerk, Carl Heymanns Verlag KG, Köln

2 ASTM (1997) Constant-Amplitude Low-Cycle Fatigue Testing. ASTM.
Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol. 03.01, American Society for
Testing and Materials, West Conshohocken, PA., No. E606
3 Dowling NE (1999) Mechanical behavior of materials. Engineering
methods for deformation, fracture, and fatigue. Prentice Hall, Upper
Saddle River, NJ
4 Haibach E (1968) Die Schwingfestigkeit von Schweißverbindungen aus
der Sicht einer örtlichen Beanspruchungsmessung. Laboratorium für
Betriebsfestigkeit (LBF), Bericht Nr. FB-77, Darmstadt
5 Hobbacher A (1996) Fatigue design of welded joints and components.
Document XIII-1539–96/XV-845–96, The International Institute of
Welding, Abington Publishing, Abington, Cambridge
6 Köttgen VB, Olivier R, Seeger T (1991) Schwingfestigkeitsanalyse für
Schweißverbin- dungen auf der Grundlage örtlicher Beanspruchungen.
DVS-Bericht 133 “Berechnung, Gestaltung und Fertigung”, Düsseldorf,
pp. 75–84
7 Maddox SJ (1994) Fatigue Strength of Welded Structures. Abbington
Publishing, Woodhead Publishing, Cambridge
8 Olivier R, Köttgen VB, Seeger T (1994) Untersuchung zur Einbindung
eines neuartigen Zeit- und Dauerfestigkeitsnachweises von Schweißver-
bindungen aus Stahl in Regel-Werke – Schweißverbindungen II.
Forschungskuratorium Maschinenbau (FKM), Frankfurt/Main, For-
schungsheft 180
151
9 prEN 13445–3 (n.d.) Unfired pressure vessels. Part 3: Design
10 Radaj D, Sonsino CM (1998) Fatigue assessment of welded joints by
local approaches.
11 Seeger T (1996) Grundlagen für Betriebsfestigkeitsnachweise. Stahlbau-
Handbuch, Band1, Teil B. Stahlbau-Verlagsgesellschaft, Köln
12 Rudolph J, Weiß E, Forster M (2001a) Efficient tools for detailed mode-
ling and analysis of welded pressure vessel joints according to local
fatigue approaches. ECITTT Euro Conference on CAE Integration –
Tools, Trends and Technologies. Cambridge, UK
13 Rudolph J, Weiß E, Forster M (2001b) Konzeptkonforme Modellierung
ermüdungsgefähr- deter Druckbehälterschweißverbindungen als Modul
einer modernen rechnerischen Lebensdauerabschätzung. SHAKER Ver-
lag, Aachen
14 Rudolph J, Rauth M, Weiß E (2002) Modellgebundener Strukturspan-
nungsnachweis für zyklisch druckbeanspruchte Zylinder-Stutzen-Ver-
bindungen ohne Schweißnahtnach-bearbeitung. TÜ-Zeitschrift
43(6):19–26
15 Weiß E, Rudolph J, Hoffmann J (1999) Vernetzungskriterien für
kerbbeanspruchungs-orientierte FE-Analysen. Technische Mechanik
19(2):103–114