Numerical and Experimental Analysis of the Fracture Behaviour of Heterogeneous Welded Structures

Dear Colleagues,

Filler material used in welding should be the same class as base material, but welding codex often uses a filler with higher yield strength than the base material (f.i. by repair welding). Welded joints are also often the location of potential flaws, where flaw assessment assumes homogeneous material properties, but welds are heterogeneous. There is a compendium of yield load solutions for strength mis-matched fracture mechanics specimens developed to address the heterogeneity in the weld joint. However, solutions for the yield load at different combinations of the strength mismatch within the weld are missing, where mechanical testing and finite element simulations are necessary. In addition to more conventional approaches, a recently introduced multi-scale approach in the assessment of weld heterogeneity sounds very promising. It is an efficient tool to take into account residual stresses also, which can strongly affect the stresses distribution around the flaws in the heterogeneous weldments. The multi-scale methodology is computationally efficient and provides a possible means to bridge multiple length scales (from 10 nm in MD simulation to 10 mm in FE model). This could be a useful tool by considering an acceptable level of accuracy with respect to yield load in heterogeneous welds.

In this Special Issue, modern trends of heterogeneous welded joints testing and simulation, including the multi-scale approach, resulting in appropriate flaw assessment procedures, are highlighted and discussed.

It is my pleasure to invite you to submit a manuscript for this Special Issue. Full papers, communications, and reviews are all welcome.

Prof. Dr. Dražan Kozak
Prof. Dr. Nenad Gubeljak
Prof. Dr. Aleksandar Sedmak
Guest Editors

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