FATIGUE DAMAGE PARAMETER OF SPOT WELDED JOINTS UNDER PROPORTIONAL LOADING

In this paper, the author proposes a fatigue damage parameter of spot welded joints under proportional loading. The proposed fatigue damage parameter is developed based on von Mises' equivalent stress and local structural stress at the edge of spot weld nugget. The structural stress at the edges of the weld nugget in each sheet is calculated using the forces and moments that are determined by finite element analysis. A structural equivalent stress is then calculated by von Mises' equivalent stress equation. The structural equivalent stresses are correlated to experimental fatigue life of the spot welded joints. The proposed parameter is evaluated with fatigue test data of spot welds subjected to multi axial and tensile-shear loads. Sheppard's parameter and Rupp and co-workers' parameter are also evaluated with the same test data to compare with the author's parameter. This proposed parameter presents a better correlation with experimental fatigue data than those of Sheppard's and Rupp and co-workers' parameter. The proposed parameter should be very effective for durability calculations during the early design phase since coarsely meshed finite element models can be employed.