Page 24 - Biaxial Multiaxial Fatigue and Fracture

Assessment of Welded Structures by a Structural Multiaxial Fatigue Approach 9

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I /&

(e',+ e1)/2 e',,,

8 nodes solid element 4 nodes shell element

Fig. 3. Meshing rules for a thick sheet on a solid component fillet arc-welded joint (a). The
sheet is modelling with thick shell elements whereas the component is made of solid brick
elements (b).

Let us notice that the connectivity between shell elements (which have 6 degrees of
freedom- translation and rotation-) and solid elements (which have 3 translational degrees of
freedom) is satisfied thanks to the use of the rigid beams.