Fatigue Design and Evaluation Committee 

--To: SAE FD&E members interested in life prediction of welded structures

                       Weld Challenge 3

Prediction Challenge 3A:
  Paul Lubinski has kindly provided us with our latest
  challenge, this one involving an exhaust tube welded to
  a hanger.  Please see the fatigue.org website for details:
  http://www.fatigue.org/Weld/Challenge-3/FDE_weld_info_hanger.ppt

  This document contains everything you should need: drawings and picture
  of the test piece, material, constraint conditions, load application
  geometry, and the four different fully reversed load levels tested.
  The tests were conducted at room temperature, and the exaust tube
  and weld filler is 409 stainless while the wire is cold rolled
  SAE 1008/1010.  All this, and more, are already in the file.

  The challenge is, again, to both predict the fatigue life and failure
  location on the test piece.

Prediction Challenge 3B:  Back to the weldment from challenges 1 & 2!

  This time we've had a couple of the weldments shotpeened, compliments
  of Jack Champaigne of the surface enhancement group and
  Progressive Technology of Grand Rapids, MI.

  This time two weldments will be subjected to constant amplitude fully
  reversed loads of 11120N.  The question to answer is what is the
  failure life and location.

  Further testing details can be had at the following websites:
  http://www.fatigue.org/Weld/weld.html
                 and
  http://fde.uwaterloo.ca/Fde/Weld2/

  Peter Kurath has already started his testing and I soon will start.
  We have no idea whether we'll have a failure by the next meeting.

  Once again, calibrating the "model" that you have to the results of
  previous weld challenges is considered poor sportsmanship.  One should
  make predictions without consideration of the error between one's
  prediction and previous results.

All challenges can be found at:
   http://www.fatigue.org/Weld/weld.html

Any predictions that you make for 3A or 3B above can be presented at the
upcoming SAE F.D.&E. meeting in Champaign-Urbana.

Please contact either John Bonnen or Russ Chernenkoff if you would like
to make a presentation.

Sincerely,

John Bonnen
(313)322-9127
jbonnen(at)ford.com

Russ Chernenkoff
(313)594-4626
rchernen(at)ford.com