Numerical and experimental applications of the least-squares method to determine mode-II stress intensity factors for double fillet welded lap joints

Due to its simplicity, the least-squares method provides an efficient means to evaluate the stress intensity factors (SIFs) of cracks in complicated structures. This paper demonstrates numerical and experimental applications of the least-squares method to study mode-II SIFs of double fillet welded lap joints. In the numerical application, double fillet welded lap joints with different geometric parameters, including overlap length, weld leg size, plate thickness and plate length, were systematically analysed by the finite-element method combined with the least-squares method. The computed SIF results were then employed to develop the general formulae of the shearing fracture mode (mode-II) stress intensity factors. To validate the numerical results, three double fillet welded lap joint specimens were tested by a non-contact optical experiment using a common digital camera and a proposed image processing scheme. The measured crack shearing displacements near the crack tip were substituted into the least-squares procedure to obtain the SIFs of the specimens. The numerical and experimental results were in good agreement with the existing numerical results for double fillet welded lap joints provided in the handbook (Murakami, 1987). The non-contact optical experiment makes the field measurement of SIFs possible, which is very useful for fracture analysis or fatigue evaluation of structures like steel bridges, naval structures and offshore structures.