Eco Log AB i Söderhamn är en tillverkare av skogsmaskiner. De tillverkar både skotare och skördare. På deras skördare sitter fyra pendelarmar som ersätter hjulupphängningen på fordonet. Dessa motverkar att fordonet lutar vid körning i sluttningar. Varje pendelarm drivs av en hydraulkolv som justerar nivelleringen. Då inga beräkningar med avseende på utmattning och livslängd genomförts sedan en omkonstruktion av pendelarmarna är det nödvändigt att analysera och utvärdera pendelarmarna. Syftet med examensarbetet är att analysera ett antal, maximalt tre, av pendelarmens svetsfogar med avsikt på utmattning. Jämförelse mellan de tre olika utvärderingsmetoderna Effective notch stress, Nominell spänning och Hot spot kommer genomföras. På begäran av Eco Log redovisas ej några värden på beräknade livslängder och spänningar utan endast en jämförelse mellan de olika metoderna redovisas där Nominella spännings-metoden används som referensvärde. En inledande spänningsanalys på en pendelarm på deras största skördare, Eco Log 590D, genomfördes. Denna analys, där endast en förenklad pendelarm användes, visade att det mest belastade svetsförbandet befann sig i nivå med infästningen av lagret i ytterlådans konstruktion. Detta svetsförband analyserades sedan vidare med avseende på utmattning. De mer noggranna utmattningsanalyserna baserades på tre olika utvärderingsmetoder för spänningar, Hot spot-, Effective notch stress- och Nominella spännings-metoden. Hot spot-metoden inkluderar membranspänningar och böjspänningar för det utvalda svetsförbandet. Effective notch stress inkluderar mebramspänningar, böjspänningar och den olinjära spänningstoppen för att kunna analysera spänningskoncentrationer i svetsrot eller tå. Nominella spänningar inkluderar normalspänningar. Genom att modellera det utvalda svetsförbandet med dessa tre metoder erhölls information om den maximala spänningsvidden. Denna spänningsvidd applicerades sedan i en arbetsgång för utmattningsberäkningar där en livslängd beräknades fram. Denna livslängd blev för Nominella och Effective notch-metoden blev densamma och för Hot spot-metoden blev den dubbelt så lång. Denna beräkningsgång baseras på International Institute of Welding.Denna beräknade livslängd var betydligt mindre än vad Eco Log hade förväntat sig. Dock är osäkerheten vid beräkningar och test med avseende på utmattning stor och därav borde även provning genomföras för att säkerställa livslängden. / Eco Log AB is a manufacturer of forestry equipment. They manufacture both forwarders and harvesters. On their harvesters there are four pendulum arms that replace the suspension on their vehicles. The pendulum arms anti tilts the vehicle when driving in slopes. Every pendulum arm is individually driven by hydraulic cylinders that adjust the leveling. Given that no calculations with respect to fatigue and service life since a redesign were made, analysis and evaluation of the pendulum arm was necessary. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze an number of, maximum three, of the pendulums welds with respect to fatigue. Comparison between three different evaluation methods Effective notch stress, Nominal stress and Hot spot will be conducted. On request from Eco Log no values regarding calculated service lifetime and stress will be presented, only a comparison between the different methods were the Nominal stress-method is used as reference. An initial stress analysis on the pendulum arm on their largest harvester, the Eco Log 590D, was conducted. This analysis, which only used a simplified pendulum arm, indicated that the most load carrying load were located at the attachment of the bearing thus on the outer box-constructuib. This welded joint was then further analyzed with respect to fatigue. These fatigue analysis was based on three different evaluation methods, Hot spot-, Effective notch stress- and Nominal stress-method. The Hot spot method includes membrane stress and bending stress for the selected weld. Effective notch stress includes membrane stress, bending stress and the nonlinear stress peak in order to analyze stress concentration in the weld root and weld toe. Nominell stress includes normal stresses. By constructing the selected welded joint with these three evaluation methods, information regarding the maximal stress range was given. This stress range was then applied to a specific working procedure for fatigue calculations were the results obtained in expected service-life. The service-life for the Nominal and Effective notch stress-method were almost identic meanwhile for the Hot spot-method the service-life was twice as long. This working procedure is based on the International Institute of Welding. This calculated service-life were significantly less than what Eco Log had expected. The uncertainty of calculation for fatigue is however big and therefore testing should also be carried out to ensure the service life of pendulum arm.

Fatigue life estimation of welds is a complex issue since the characteristics of each weld are unique depending on load case, geometry and properties. Fatigue life estimation on weld ends is limited and often the weakest point of a weld. There are five different methods for evaluation of fatigue life as following: nominal stress method, hot-spot method, effective notch method, fracture mechanics and lab testing. To evaluate fatigue life on weld ends, only lab testing can be used.   The purpose with this thesis is to determine a method for evaluation of fatigue life weld ends for a load carrying weld joint. This is done by comparing finite element calculations to mechanical testing and adapt the existing calculation method to have a better correspondence to the test results. The focus will be to analyse the fatigue through mechanical testing and develop a new fatigue class (FAT) and slope of the S/N-curve for weld ends.   The research was conduct through different parts with fatigue testing in form of mechanical testing, strain gauge measurements and creating different modelling techniques for finite element calculations. The development of the different modelling techniques has been carried out using linear misalignment, increasing the depth of fusion by extension of the weld root gap, changing plate edge radius at the weld toe notch and decreasing the throat thickness on a finite element model on the continues weld design.   The result from the mechanical testing indicates that the continues weld has a higher fatigue strength than the discontinues weld and that the initial crack mainly in both weld designs mainly propagating from the weld root. The fatigue strength when the initial crack starts at the weld root is higher than when the crack starts at the weld toe.   The conclusion is that the tested modelling techniques can’t be used to analyse the real-life weld end design. from the comparison between the mechanical test results the FE analysis result the fatigue life can be approximated with the effective notch method using FAT 340  and slope  at 50 % failure probability for weld ends, if the calculated root stress is used even if the toe stress is higher. / Livslängsberäkningar för utmattning av svetsar är ett komplext problem, då varje svets har unika kännetecken som är beroende av lastfall, geometrin och andra egenskaper från svetsprocessen. Livslängdsuppskattning av svetslut är ett område där det inte finns så mycket forskning, trots att svetsluten ofta har högst spänningskoncentration och lägst livslängd. Det finns fem olika beräkningsmetoder för att utvärdera livslängden, nominell spänning, hot-spot, effective notch, brottmekanik och labbprovning. För att utvärdera livslängden på svetslut kan endast labbprovning användas som utvärderingsmetod.   Syftet med detta examensarbete är att bestämma en analysmetod för utvärdering av livslängden av svetslut för en lastbärande svetsfog. Detta görs genom jämförelse mellan provresultat på detaljer med och utan svetslut och resultat från finita elementberäkningar. Fokus kommer att vara att analysera utmattningen för svetsförbandet genom mekanisk provning och ta fram ett nytt FAT-värde och en lutning på S/N-kurvan motsvarande resultaten från den mekaniska provningen av svetslut.   Forskningen har genomförts i olika steg, genom utmattningsprovning i form av mekanisk provning, genom mätning med trådtöjningsgivare och genom beräkningar med finita elementmetoder. I beräkningarna har olika modelleringsmetoder testats för att se om det gick att få bättre överenstämmelse med provresultatet.   Resultatet från de mekaniska testerna indikerar att de svetsförband med kontinuerlig svets har en högre utmattningsstyrka än svetsförbanden med svetslut. De mekaniska testerna indikerar att utmattningssprickan för båda designerna huvudsakligen sker från svetsroten. Livslängden då spricktillväxten sker från svetsroten är högre än då spricktillväxt sker från svetstån.   De olika modelleringsmetoderna som provades gav inte högst spänningskoncentration vid provobjektens sprickstart. Ingen av dessa metoder fångar därför det verkliga beteendet. Utifrån en jämförelse mellan provresultaten och resultatet från FE analysen kan utmattningshållfastheten i svetsluten approximeras med effective notch metoden om ett FAT-värde 340  och en lutning på  vid 50 % brottrisk används, förutsatt att den beräknande rotspänningen används även om tåspänningen är högre.

Automotive structures contain hundreds of welds. Most of the time, failure occurs at the weld ends (weld toe or weld root). Thus, welds affect the structural integrity of an entire structure. Thus, the modeling of welded joints is very important from a design point of view. In this research, the primary aim is to develop a weld model to assess the structural integrity of welded joints based on stress analysis by using a finite element method (FEM) and through experimental validation. The stress distribution in welded joints mainly depends on the geometry, loading type and material properties. Therefore, it is greatly challenging to develop a weld model that can predict the behavior of stress distribution and weld stiffness in joints. There are several approaches for modeling welded structures by using FEM. However, the effective notch stress approach has been used for weld joint modeling in this research which is gaining in popularity in the automotive industry. The effective notch stress approach calculates the local stress at a notch (weld toe or root) assuming that there is linear-elastic material behavior. Parameter tuning of the weld model has been done to obtain the lowest validation error with the experimental results. The effective notch radius is chosen as the only tuning parameter in this weld model. Through this investigation, the weld model based on the effective notch stress has been experimentally validated for the first time through parameter tuning. Two different types of welded joints are investigated. Both types of joints are analyzed with a fine meshed 3D finite element model by using the effective notch stress approach. The FEM model of these two joints is validated with the experimental results. The calculated FEM results show a good agreement with the experimental results (obtained by using strain gages) for the ASTM model. This modeling technique is also validated with real world data of a bus window pillar. The model of the bus window pillar shows a close approximation with the experimental results. / October 2016

This thesis is investigating how the effective notch method can be used for fatigue assessment of welded joints.  The effective notch method is based on a finite element analysis where the joint is modeled with all notches fictitiously rounded with a radius of 1 mm. Analyses are performed on a cruciform fillet welded joint where parameters such as, load case, steel plate thickness and weld size, are varied. The achieved lifetime estimations are then compared to calculations with other fatigue assessment methods, linear elastic fracture mechanics and the nominal method. The goal is to draw conclusions about pros and cons of the effective notch method. The results are also compared to experimental fatigue tests performed on the same geometry. The results indicates that the effective notch method tends overestimating the lifetime, especially when the steel plate thickness is small. This leads to a non conservative method that is dangerous to use as guidance when designing. The estimations are though better when considering a toe crack then when considering a root crack. Due to a large scatter in experimental test results, it is hard to validate a fatigue assessment method in an absolute sense. That is also the case for the effective notch method, and more results from experimental fatigue tests are needed before the effective notch method can be fully used. For relative analysis, when variations of the same design needs to be compared, the effective notch can be a very powerful tool. This is because of the flexibility for different geometries that this method grants.

This thesis work is concerned with effect of material grade on fatigue strength of welded joints. Fatigue strength evaluation of welded joints in as welded and post weld treated condition was carried out with effective notch method. Results of peak stress method have also been compared with those of effective notch method for as welded joints. In addition, using the results of effective notch method, the effect of important weld and global geometry factors on notch stress concentration factor has been studied with 2-level design of experiment and a mathematical relation among stress concentration factor and the geometric factors has been proposed. Overall, thickness of the base plate and toe radius is found to be the most important factors determining fatigue strength of the joint. Welding induced residual stresses have also been predicted using 2D and 3D FEM analysis to see their effect on fatigue strength of the joints. Also, transversal residual stresses were measured using X-ray diffraction method to assess the accuracy of predicted results. Based on simulation results, effect of geometric factors on maximum value of transversal residual stress was also investigated.

This thesis has been conducted at Cargotec Sweden AB as a case study on the loader body of the HIAB XS 144 crane. The loader body is the innermost part in the cranes arm-system and its fatigue life is critical to the operational life of the whole crane. Welding is the main joining process in Cargotec’s cranes and are often a limiting factor when it comes to fatigue life. The weld joining the column to the loader body is carrying the whole crane moment. Previous testing has shown that this weld often limits the fatigue life of the loader body, it has thus been evaluated. Weld fatigue life is affected by a large amount of parameters. To pinpoint the parameters mainly affecting the weld fatigue life and to understand their influence, calculations have been organized using factorial design. The evaluation has been carried out using 3D finite element calculations utilizing sub-modelling to calculate local stresses in the weld notches. Different parameters have been evaluated based on their influence on the local notch stresses. To estimate stresses from the evaluated parameters, regression equations have been fitted. The effective notch method has been used to estimate weld fatigue life. The evaluation has shown that a butt-weld design with root-support, only being welded from the outside of the loader body, as used on some other crane models, could not provide a robust design for the XS 144 crane. The evaluation could also point out several critical parameters that need to be considered when using such design. Apart from the local weld geometry, plate thickness, plate angle, material offset and thickness in the casted column were mainly affecting the weld notch stresses.

<p>I denna rapport predikteras livslängden, med avseende på utmattning, för en hjullastarskopa. Två av de mest kritiska svetsarna utvärderas enligt IIW:s (International Institute of Welding) rekommendationer genom nominella spänningsmetoden, hot spot-metoden och effective notch-metoden. Beräkningarna utförs med hjälp av finita elementmetoden. Genom att utföra töjningsmätningar på hjullastarskopan i drift erhålls spänningsdiagram. Dessa uppmätta spänningsdiagram analyseras med rain-flow count-metoden. Med ett antaget samband mellan rain-flow count-histogrammet och de beräknade spänningarna i svets och givarposition, konverteras rain-flow count-histogrammet till att gälla svetsen. Livslängsberäkningarna baseras på de konverterade rain-flow count-histogrammen.</p>

I denna rapport predikteras livslängden, med avseende på utmattning, för en hjullastarskopa. Två av de mest kritiska svetsarna utvärderas enligt IIW:s (International Institute of Welding) rekommendationer genom nominella spänningsmetoden, hot spot-metoden och effective notch-metoden. Beräkningarna utförs med hjälp av finita elementmetoden. Genom att utföra töjningsmätningar på hjullastarskopan i drift erhålls spänningsdiagram. Dessa uppmätta spänningsdiagram analyseras med rain-flow count-metoden. Med ett antaget samband mellan rain-flow count-histogrammet och de beräknade spänningarna i svets och givarposition, konverteras rain-flow count-histogrammet till att gälla svetsen. Livslängsberäkningarna baseras på de konverterade rain-flow count-histogrammen.

This master thesis deals primarily with the prediction of fatigue life of welded ribbed shaft. Recommendations taken from the International Institute of Welding (IIW) are used to express the stress values and the fatigue life. The stress values of examined place are expressed by approach of nominal stress, structural hot spot stress and effective notch stress. Results from stress-strain analysis are combined together with fatigue strength curves for prediction of the fatigue life. At the end of the analysis, the predicted fatigue life is compared with design life of welded ribbed shaft.

This thesis work is carried out in Cargotec Sweden AB, Bromma Conquip to study the behavior of load carrying welded joints in different weld metal strength mismatch conditions and various penetration ratios. Static and fatigue strength calculations have been made using FEA and experimentation. The joint in the Telescopic beam of the spreader STS45 has been analyzed. Telescopic beam is one of the critical and main parts in the spreader, which is directly subjected to the load of containers at various ports. Previous studies show that this joint limits the strength of the spreader, it has thus been analyzed. To check the effect of different strength mismatch conditions in the weld metal, static strength calculations have been carried out. The effect of different penetration ratios on static and fatigue strength has also been studied. A cruciform test specimen is designed according to the joint configuration and the capacity of testing machine. Criteria for the selection of consumables has also been developed and following standards: Eurocode 3, AWS D1.1 and BSK07, have been compared for static joint design. Sub modelling, effective notch stress and beam theory techniques have been used to study the effect of weld metal penetration and size of weld throat on the fatigue strength of the welded joint in the Telescopic beam. The study show that matching or slight under matching in the filler material along with full penetration increases the ultimate strength capacity as well as the ductility in the joint. Results of Eurocode 3, AWS D1.1 and BSK 07 are close to each other. Apart from strength mismatch and penetration ratios, it is observed that the weld geometry and joint preparation has also effect on the strength of the joint. Fatigue analysis of the weld in the Telescopic beam using 3D Finite element analysis show that effective notch concept is not applicable to this part of the spreader.