Fatigue Life Assessment Approaches Comparison Based on Typical Welded Joint of Chassis Frame

Abstract

There are many approaches to the durability calculation that are used in engineering practice. At the same time the existing accident studies show that the leading position is still hold by fatigue failures. This means that there is still no universal approach to fatigue problem solution, and the existing approaches have their limitations. In addition, there is lack of information about the comparison between the precision of the obtained results using different approaches. In this paper different fatigue life calculation methods, like nominal stress, hot spot stress, notch stress and fracture mechanics are used to calculate the durability of T-type welded joint. The obtained results are compared with the fatigue test ones and the approaches, which give the closest results, are found.