Effect of Axial Misalignments in Fillet Welded Cruciform Joint Under Static Loading

Abstract

This paper presents a numerical study to investigate the effects of axial misalignment for the fillet welded cruciform joints using the traction stress method. A parametric study, involving 100 finite element (FE) models, was conducted with plate thickness and misalignments treated as independent parameters. In the parametric study, different fillet weld leg sizes were chosen based on the minimum criteria specified in the New Zealand standard (NZS 3404.1). Normalized shear traction stresses were calculated for each plate thickness and misalignments at different cut planes through the fillet weld. In each model, the maximum normalized shear stress occurred at an angle of 15° to the loading plate, which represents the critical angle for weld failure. Finally, based on the results of the parametric study, an equation for the multiplication factor was proposed for the cruciform joint to obtain the maximum normalized shear traction stress for different misalignments and weld size. The multiplication factor obtained from the FEA matched well with the multiplication factor predicted by the proposed equation, and reliability analysis was conducted to confirm the accuracy of the proposed equation.