In this paper, the applicability of the hot spot stress method (HSSM) to the study of fatigue behaviour of welded details made of high-strength stainless or carbon steel is investigated. To that purpose, a broad database of fatigue test results was collated from the literature for transverse stiffeners, butt welds and cope holes which are frequently present in highway girder bridges. For each set of test results, the hot spot stress range was evaluated using finite element (FE) models. The fatigue resistance using the HSSM was then computed and compared to that obtained using the well-known nominal stress method (NSM). It is concluded that the HSSM yields less conservative results than the NSM leading to more economic design of the covered range of high-strength steel welded details.

在本文中，研究了热点应力法 (HSSM) 在研究由高强度不锈钢或碳钢制成的焊接细节的疲劳行为中的适用性。为此，从横向加强筋、对接焊缝和上孔的文献中整理了广泛的疲劳试验结果数据库，这些资料经常出现在公路梁桥中。对于每组测试结果，使用有限元 (FE) 模型评估热点应力范围。然后计算使用 HSSM 的疲劳强度，并将其与使用众所周知的名义应力方法 (NSM) 获得的结果进行比较。得出的结论是，HSSM 产生的结果不如 NSM 保守，从而导致对覆盖范围的高强度钢焊接细节进行更经济的设计。