Fatigue Strength Assessment of Steel Rollers: On the Reliability of the Strain Energy Density Approach on Real Components

Abstract

Welded joints are one of the most widely applied methods to join different steel components. However, they introduce stress concentrators that are commonly known to reduce the fatigue strength of structures. Several methods have been developed to assess the fatigue behavior of welded components, such as the Notch Stress Intensity Factors (NSIFs) approach. However, this approach has been reported to be geometry dependent, and does not allow for a direct comparison of failures occurring at the weld toes with those occurring at the weld roots. This drawback has been overcame by considering the value of the strain energy density (SED) range averaged in a control volume ahead of the notch tip. More than 900 fatigue data of welded joints have been summarized within a single scatter band ΔW-N (strain energy range–umber of cycles to failure) using this approach. The reliability of the just mentioned scatter band in summarizing the fatigue data of real components such as steel welded rollers produced by Rulmeca is herein evaluated. The results prove the reliability of the SED approach to assess the fatigue behavior of welded rollers, paving the way to its diffusion in assessing real components.