TWI Industrial Member Report Summary 181/1982
By G S Booth
Background
This report describes fatigue tests on two types of welded joints carried out under environmental conditions intended to be representative of an offshore platform.
The effect of stress-relief on fatigue strength has been studied at a stress ratio of -1 both in air and sea water at 5°C. Residual stress measurements have established the existence of large tensile residual stresses in the as-welded joints and the efficiency of the postweld heat treatment in reducing the residual stresses has been confirmed. In addition, the influence of sea water temperature has been studied by performing tests in sea water at 5 and 20°C.