New developments at the recent update of the IIW recommendations for fatigue of welded joints and components

The International Institute of Welding (IIW) has published its first comprehensive recommendation on fatigue design of welded structures in 1996. The document appeared in English, French, German and Japanese. The idea was to describe the fatigue properties of welded joints and components independently from application groups with their specific preferences and interests. So, a comprehensive code was established, which covered all current methods of verification, such as component testing, nominal stress, structural stress, notch stress method as well as fracture mechanics assessment procedures. Detailed guidance for assessment of weld imperfections was also given. The outlined safety philosophy covers the different strategies and provides a detailed choice for the designer. The document had a considerable impact on code making bodies and thus it became an important source for the Eurocode. After more than one decade, a new update of the IIW recommendations has been published. The main areas of update are firstly a new consideration of high cycle fatigue in the grid of the Woehler S-N curves, a standardized meshing for the structural hot-spot stress concept, which allows now an economic and coarser meshing in finite element analysis, further on the extension of the effective notch stress concept to welded aluminium structures, followed by a numerical assessment of post weld treatments for improving the fatigue properties, and finally a new approach to cumulative damage in connection with multi-axial stress. The update is a result of a worldwide collaboration of leading research institutions and it is expected that the new update will have the same impact on design and codes as the preceding document.