1 Fatigue Degradation Mechanism and

Failure Modes

1.1 General
It is generally accepted that in welded structures subjected to repeated external loads,
microcracks may be initiated rather early in the fatigue life. Based on observations
on the development of fatigue cracking, it has become common practice to consider
fatigue life as consisting of three phases. These are initiation of a crack, propagation
of the crack, and final fracture. Final fracture is simply the fracture under the last
up-loading tensile load cycle and may be treated by assessment of unstable fractures,
as presented in Chapter 16. However, the distinction between the first two phases is
not very clear. The question arises of how to determine that the crack is so large that
its growth can be properly defined in laboratory testing and in crack growth analysis.
Fatigue crack propagation is understood here to mean the growth of cracks that are
so large that the continuum mechanics approach can be applied.
The proportion of fatigue life of a structure that is spent in each of the two first
phases depends on the material, the geometry of the detail being considered, and the
loading. The initiation period for a fatigue crack in the base material without signifi-
cant notches is relatively long in comparison with the propagation period. In contrast,
at weld toes in structures with more severe stress concentrations, the formation of a
dominant crack occurs relatively early in the fatigue life, and the propagation phase
constitutes the major portion of the total life. Radencovic (1981) and test data on
tubular joints reported by Pozzolini (1981) showed that 70–90% of the fatigue life of
welded connections is related to fatigue crack growth. However, as indicated in the
preceding paragraph, such numbers also depend on the definition of initiation and
the type of connection. At start of fatigue crack growth after initiation it is assumed
that a sharp crack tip has developed. The size of the crack at this stage is not so
easy to define and in literature it ranges from below 0.1 mm up to 1 mm; see also
Sections 3.1.3 and 4.7.4.
The basic mechanism of crack nucleation in the base material is cyclic slip and the
extrusions and intrusions at the surface of the base material. At weld toes, however,
initiation is more usually from defects at undercuts or from other imperfections in
welded connections. Thus, fatigue crack growth may start from macroscopic defects,
but fatigue cracking may also occur in originally uncracked base material when sub-
ject to large cycles of stress or strain. The initiation of a crack in the base material
can be observed as slip planes in zones adjacent to the outer surface or to internal
19

Downloaded from http:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of California, Santa Cruz, on 20 Dec 2016 at 22:20:04, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at
http:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316343982.003
 20 Fatigue Degradation Mechanism and Failure Modes

voids or inclusions, and thus, microplastic properties may be decisive. Crack initia-
tion is always located at surfaces or phase transitions where a degree of freedom for
accumulation of slip exists; see, for example, Hellan (1984). Typical extrusions and
intrusions are formed by repeated slip on other planes due to, for example, strain
hardening and oxidation of the generated free surface. Thus, some intrusions may
act as crack starters, both by concentrating stresses at the resulting surface irregu-
larities and by enabling aggressive environments to take effect. It might be expected
that one of the primary planes, slipping at a 45° angle with the load direction, would
be the first growing crack. However, it is almost impossible to identify a clear transi-
tion between the initiation phase and further crack growth. During further dynamic
loading, crack growth normally occurs in the direction normal to the largest principal
stress. Fatigue crack growth in ductile material is typically a transcrystalline type of
cracking that is identified by striation as the crack front moves forward through each
new load cycle. The striations can be explained by local plastic deformation as the
crack opens up during a tensile part of the load cycle. This deformed part becomes
too large when the crack closes during the next part of the load cycle and will be
forced to penetrate into the material during crack closure, leaving permanent ripples
at the crack front. Fatigue is a discrete process with the crack “jumping” from one
atomic position to another from one load cycle to another. Thus, the lowest possible
crack rate is propagation of one atomic spacing per load cycle. Even smaller values
may be explained as average values along a crack front.

1.2 Low Cycle and High Cycle Fatigue

When there are few load cycles, a test specimen can be subject to a significant strain
range before it fails. This range is so large that it exceeds the yield strain, both in ten-
sion and compression. This implies change of yield stress and plastic dissipation dur-
ing a load cycle, as was observed by Bauschinger during the nineteenth century. Thus,
the low cycle fatigue strength is a function of material yield strength. The total strain
is the sum of elastic and plastic strain: as the plastic strain amplitude is reduced, the
specimens can be subjected to a larger number of load cycles before failure occurs.
Thus, there is a gradual transition from fatigue under significant plastic strain to that
of elastic behavior. Fatigue associated with significant plastic strain is often referred
to as Low Cycle Fatigue (LCF) and is associated with relatively few cycles until fail-
ure, as indicated in Figure 1.1. A more detailed description of LCF using a strain-
based approach is presented in Section 3.1. The region with mainly elastic strain
behavior is denoted High Cycle Fatigue (HCF). Here stress range is used on a similar
basis as strain for LCF, as there is only the Young’s modulus between the stress and
the elastic strain. The transition between LCF and HCF can be considered to be in
the region 104 to 105 load cycles. It may be practical to define this transition at 104
cycles, as this is frequently the left starting point in the stress range-based S-N dia-
grams for calculation of HCF. HCF S-N curves are further described in Section 3.2
and Chapter 4.
Examples of LCF can be found in design standards for ship structures and float-
ing production vessels where large load cycles may occur due to loading and unload-
ing. Some minimum numbers of design load cycles for this type of LCF are pro-
vided in Table 1.1 (Urm et al. 2004). Due to uncertainty regarding actual design
cycles at the design stage, the number of actual design cycles may be higher than the

Downloaded from http:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of California, Santa Cruz, on 20 Dec 2016 at 22:20:04, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at
http:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316343982.003
 1.2 Low Cycle and High Cycle Fatigue 21

log S LCF HCF

Figure 1.1. Schematic S-N diagram, includ-

ing the LCF and HCF regions.

1 102 104 106 108

Number of cycles, N

minimum design. A design fatigue factor of 2 is usually employed for actual design
with respect to LCF of ship structures. The need for design criteria with respect to
LCF has increased with subsidence of fixed platforms, such that waves may hit the
deck structures during major storms (e.g., NORSOK N-006 2015). Thus, LCF has
become an important part of design for the Ultimate Limit State for these struc-
tures. A failure is unlikely to be associated with only one single large wave, but more
probably occurs following a number of waves during the same storm that results
in the accumulation of fatigue damage until failure. A procedure for this has been
included in NORSOK N-006 (2015) “Assessment of structural integrity for existing
offshore load-bearing structures.” Reference should also be made to Section 3.1.3 of
this book, where some background for the LCF part of the S-N curve is presented.
The long-term loading from waves and wind entails so many stress cycles that
HCF becomes relevant. The relative distribution of fatigue damage along the log N
axis in a typical S-N diagram for the air environment of a floating platform is shown
in Figure 1.2. This figure is based on a Weibull distribution of long-term stress ranges
with the shape parameter h = 1.0. This represents a typical wave loading on a floating
structure during a service life of 20 years and with a Palmgren-Miner damage equal
to 1.0. The vertical line in the graph is due to the change in slope in the S-N curve at
107 cycles, where the negative inverse slope of the S-N curve is m = 3.0 for the left-
hand side and m = 5.0 for the right-hand side. Half of the calculated fatigue damage
is to the left of 5.79 · 106 cycles in Figure 1.2 and the other 50% is to the right of this
number of cycles. The relative fatigue damage is moved to the right in Figure 1.2 for
longer calculated fatigue lives. This illustrates the most significant region of the S-N
curve for calculation of fatigue for this type of structure. The mean up-crossing
response period for offshore structures is typically 6–8 sec, and is somewhat higher

Table 1.1. Minimum number of load cycles for Low Cycle Fatigue

Minimum number
Ship type of load cycles

Oil tankers 500

Chemical tankers 750
Panamax bulk carriers 1,000
Shuttle tankers 1,500

Downloaded from http:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of California, Santa Cruz, on 20 Dec 2016 at 22:20:04, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at
http:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316343982.003
 22 Fatigue Degradation Mechanism and Failure Modes

Relative distribution of fatigue damage

0.07

0.06

0.05

0.04

0.03

0.02

0.01

0
4 5 6 7 8 Log N 9 10
Figure 1.2. Typical contribution to fatigue damage along S-N curve for a floating offshore
structure subjected to wave loading with Miner sum equal 1.0 in 20 years service life.

for floating structures than for structures that are fixed to the sea bottom. The num-
ber of load cycles can be derived from the total service life divided by the mean
up-crossing response period. With an average period equal to 6.3 sec, the number of
cycles during 20 years can be calculated from 60 · 60 · 24 · 365 · 20/6.3 = 108 cycles.
Wind turbine support structures are subject to approximately twice as many load
cycles (from wind, waves and rotor actions) as offshore structures subject to wave
loading during the same period of service life.

1.3 Failure Modes due to Fatigue

There are four main fatigue cracking failure modes that should be considered in
fatigue design of structures.

1.3.1 Fatigue Crack Growth from the Weld Toe into the Base Material
In welded structures the most frequent failure mode is fatigue cracking from weld
toes into the base material. The fatigue crack is initiated at small defects or under-
cuts at the weld toe where the stress is highest due to the geometric stress at the
considered detail and the weld notch geometry as indicated in Figure 1.3. Examples
of fatigue cracks that have initiated at weld toes are shown in Figures 1.4–1.6. Fatigue
cracks may initiate at different positions, as shown in Figures 1.4–1.5. The cracks may
also grow in different transverse planes to the load direction, as shown in Figure 1.6.
Much of this book is aimed at how to achieve a reliable design with respect to this
failure mode.

Figure 1.3. Fatigue crack growth from the weld toe into the base
material.

Downloaded from http:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of California, Santa Cruz, on 20 Dec 2016 at 22:20:04, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at
http:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316343982.003
 1.3 Failure Modes due to Fatigue 23

Figure 1.4. Section through crack initiation at the weld toe of a doubling plate (Lotsberg et al.
2014) (Copyright Springer. With kind permission from Springer Science and Business Media).

1.3.2 Fatigue Crack Growth from the Weld Root through the Fillet Weld
Another important failure mode that must be considered is fatigue cracking from the
root of fillet welds, with crack growth through the weld, as shown in Figure 1.7. The
use of fillet welds should be avoided in connections where the failure consequences
are large due to less reliable non-destructive testing (NDT) during fabrication of this
type of connection compared with that of a full penetration weld. In addition, it is
normally not possible to discover fatigue cracks during service life before they have
propagated through the weld. However, the use of fillet welds cannot be avoided
for some welded connections. Furthermore, they are considered efficient for fabrica-
tion in ship-shaped structures, but are generally used less frequently in fixed offshore
structures such as jackets. The design procedure presented in this book should pro-
vide reliable connections, including fillet welds.

1.3.3 Fatigue Crack Growth from the Weld Root into the Section
under the Weld
Fatigue crack growth from the weld root into the section under the weld, as indicated
in Figure 1.8, can be observed both during the service life of structures and also in
laboratory fatigue testing. An example of a fatigue crack that initiated from the root
of a fillet weld around a bracket toe is shown in Figure 1.9. The fatigue crack had

Figure 1.5. Section through crack location initiated at weld toe of doubling plate (Lotsberg
et al. 2014) (Copyright Springer. With kind permission from Springer Science and Business
Media).

Downloaded from http:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of California, Santa Cruz, on 20 Dec 2016 at 22:20:04, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at
http:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316343982.003
 24 Fatigue Degradation Mechanism and Failure Modes

Figure 1.6. Section through crack location initiated at weld toe of doubling plate (Lotsberg
et al. 2014) (Copyright Springer. With kind permission from Springer Science and Business
Media).

finally grown through the bulb section in a laboratory test. Reference is also made to
Section 2.4 of this book.
The number of cycles to failure for this failure mode is of a similar magnitude as
that for fatigue cracking from the weld toe in the welded condition. Apart from using
alternative types of welds locally (or to reduce the general stress range level), there
is no recommended methodology for avoiding this failure mode. This means that
if fatigue life improvement of the weld toe is required, the connection will become
more highly utilized and it is also necessary to improve the fatigue life of the root.
This can be achieved by using a full penetration weld some distance along the stiff-
ener nose. The typical length of a full penetration is 10t, where t is the thickness of
the bracket. Use of a full penetration weld at the ends of brackets can improve weld

Figure 1.7. Fatigue crack growth from the weld root through the fil-
let weld.

-t-
Figure 1.8. Fatigue crack growth from the
weld root into the section under the weld.

10 t

Downloaded from http:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of California, Santa Cruz, on 20 Dec 2016 at 22:20:04, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at
http:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316343982.003
 1.3 Failure Modes due to Fatigue 25

Connection I Connection II

Figure 1.9. Fatigue cracking from the root of the fillet weld at end of the bracket into the bulb
section in a laboratory test.

toe fatigue life. Furthermore, with a full penetration weld at the end, the full height
of the bracket nose can be ground to a specified radius in order to improve the detail,
as shown in Appendix A of DNVGL-RP-C203 (2016) to achieve a higher S-N curve.
An alternative to using a nominal stress S-N curve, the maximum stress at a bracket
with a radius transition to the plate can be derived more directly from a detailed
finite element analysis of the ground geometry, together with an S-N curve for flush
ground or machined details such as S-N curve C in DNVGL-RP-C203 (2016).

1.3.4 Fatigue Crack Growth from a Surface Irregularity or

Notch into the Base Material
Fatigue cracking in the base material is a failure mode that can occur in components
with high stress cycles. In such instances the fatigue cracks often initiate from notches
or grooves in the components or from small surface defects or irregularities; see, for
example, Figure 1.10. The design procedure presented in this book provides reliable
connections with respect to this failure mode also.

Figure 1.10. Fatigue crack growth from a surface irregular-

ity or notch into the base material.

Downloaded from http:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of California, Santa Cruz, on 20 Dec 2016 at 22:20:04, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at
http:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316343982.003