Abstract
Fatigue tests were carried out on 35 tensile plates with in-plane welded gussets of 200mm in length, with static tensile or compressive force applied to the gussets in horizontal direction. The specimens were tested in as-welded, stress relieved and overloaded conditions. The test results showed that the biaxial static forces had little effect on fatigue life, when the specimens were tested in as-welded condition. However, the compressive horizontal force prolonged the fatigue life of stress relieved specimens. The beneficial effect of overloads was deminished, when the tensile horizontal force was applied. These results were partly explained by stresses near the gusset ends computed by elasto-plastic mite element analysis.
