When will welds fatigue?(computing)(Welding research)(Brief Article)

Mechanical Engineering-CIME, March, 2005 by Thilmany, Jean

MOST FATIGUE-LIFE CALCULATION methods are tied to highly detailed computerized models of structures. The more detail, the better the calculation.

Now Battelle researcher Pingsha Dong says he has developed a method that predicts fatigue life in welded structures without the need for detailed computerized models.

Battelle, in Columbus, Ohio, develops technology and manages laboratories for its customers.

Pingsha says the new method could save billions of dollars across the aerospace, automotive, bridge construction, shipbuilding, pipeline, and off-shore oil-rig industries.

The method, called the Verity mesh-insensitive structural-stress method, is accurate regardless of detail, he said. It predicts the fatigue lives of welded...