Aging and fatigue - combined testing of welded joints under offshore conditions

This paper focuses on the fatigue testing of welded joints under marine conditions. A special testing facility has been developed which combines a 1-MN-servo hydraulic testing machine with a climatic chamber. For the first time, fatigue tests with sequential exposure of UV light, varying temperatures and humidity, salt spray, flooding and their combination have been conducted. The extensive testing program provides 73 fatigue tests on butt-welded samples with a plate thickness t of 25 mm made of offshore typical steel of grade S355.