Abstract
In the weldmentsm the crack propagation rate is changed due to the residual stress. The crack propagation rate is high in the region with the residual stress. However it shows rhw same behavior with the base metal in the region that does not include the residual stress. The fatigue crack growth rate for the material with residual stresses can be predicted more precisely by using the effective stress ratio. The difference between experimental results and prediction results in the initial stage seems to be due to the redistribution of residual stresses and microstructural change.