Multiaxial fatigue study on steel transversal attachments under constant amplitude proportional and non-proportional loadings

Abstract

In this study, the multiaxial fatigue strength of full-scale transversal attachment is assessed and compared to original experimental results and others found in the literature. Mild strength S235JR steel is used and an exploratory investigation on the use of high strength S690QL steel and the effect of non-proportional loading is presented. The study focuses on non-load carrying fillet welds as commonly used in bridge design and more generally between main girders and struts. The experimental program includes 33 uniaxial and multiaxial fatigue tests and was partially carried out on a new multiaxial setup that allows proportional and non-proportional tests in a typical welded detail. The fatigue life is then compared with estimations obtained from local approaches with the help of 3D finite element models. The multiaxial fatigue life assessment with some of the well-known local approaches is shown to be suited to the analysis under multiaxial stress states. The accuracy of each models and approaches is compared to the experimental values considering all the previously cited parameters.