Fatigue strength assessment of TIG-dressed welded steel joints by local approaches

•A new approach to assess TIG-dressed joints by local stresses is introduced.•Support effects due to stress gradients are considered by the critical distance approach.•FAT-values and critical distances are proposed that can be used for design. Fatigue strength assessment methods by local approaches are widely used in the literature. This paper provides a comprehensive evaluation of published data for welded steel joints improved by TIG dressing methods. Fatigue classes for the local assessment methods with the available fatigue data are recommended. The available fatigue data extracted for transverse non-load carrying welds, cruciform joints as well as butt joints. In total, 17 published test series of weld details with various yield strengths and stress ratios are presented. Fatigue strength assessment is performed by considering the weld profile geometry within Finite Element models and taking the resulting stress gradients as basis for the evaluation. In addition, the influence of the steel grade is included. The most reliable results are derived by using the critical distance approach. Fatigue classes and critical distances are recommended as a result of the evaluations.