In the field of mechanical construction there are various types of assembly, such as riveting,

bolting and welding, but welding remains the most used, perceives that it presents several
advantages in saving time and financing, hence. we have seen the importance of studying this
type of assembly by welding.

In this work we will try to carry out a characterization of a butt welded joint and to simulate
the ductile breaking strength of A48 steel, butt welding is found in several mechanical
constructions among and c 'is a typical assembly used on road bridges.

Indeed a welded joint is made up of three zones of metallurgical structure and of different
mechanical properties namely: the Base Metal (MB), the Molten Metal (MF) and the
Thermally Affected Zone (ZAT). This heterogeneity calls into question:
the validity of classical approaches to fracture mechanics such as the integral J initially
proposed for homogeneous structures.

The simulations carried out were compared with the experimental results in terms of “J-Δa”
curves.

Also in this work, we sought to study the influence of the local parameters on the tear curves
“J-Δa”, in particular on the starting toughness JIC or J0.2 and on the tear resistance dJ / da in
the case of welded joints.

- The validity of the classical method which predicts the behavior of a weld by assimilating it
to an equivalent fictitious material having the lowest mechanical properties (elastic limit,
toughness) among those of the materials constituting the welded joint.

Numerical calculations were carried out on different specimen configurations (butt welding)
based on the finite element method in a plane strain calculation option of the "ABAQUS"
software. The results of elastoplastic computation (stresses, strains, strain energy) are injected
into the computation procedures.