Effect of crack location on limit loads of strength mismatched welded joints

Limit loads of strength mismatched welded joints with asymmetric cracks were calculated using finite element method,and the effect of crack location on the limit load of strength mismatched welded joint was investigated. The results show that when the weld slenderness (the ratio of crack ligament to the half-weld width) was small,the limit load of welded joint was close to that of homogeneous welded metal plate with the same geometry. With the increase of slenderness,the limit load of welded joints with different strength mismatched factors converged and the influence of strength mismatching decreased. For a given strength mismatched factor,crack eccentricity had great influence on the limit load of welded joint when the weld slenderness was small,the limit load of under-matched joint increased with the increase of crack eccentricity,while for over-matched joint,the opposite was true. With the increase of weld slenderness, the effect of crack eccentricity on the limit load decreased.