A method for treating residual stress effects in traction structural stress based approach and validation on a welded component

Comprehensive four-point and three-point bending tests with different mean stress levels are carried out on welded assemblies. Strain gauges and X-ray diffraction are deployed for structural response and residual stress measurements. FEA-based analyses are followed to duplicate test results. Good correlations, particularly the residual stress near and away from weld toe, are achieved by comparing experimental measurements with that of FEA predictions. Finally, a model is proposed to predict welded joint fatigue when residual stress is treated explicitly as a part of the mean stress effect in the framework of the traction-based structural stress.