Local approaches to fatigue assessment are used to predict the structural durability of welded joints to optimise their design and to evaluate unforeseen joint failures this standard work provides a systematic survey of the principles and practical applications of the various methods it covers the hot spot structural stress approach to fatigue in general the notch stress and notch strain . Of welded joints by local approaches second edition d radaj c m sonsino and w pricke woodhead publishing and maney publishing on behalf of the institute of materials minerals mining crc press boca raton boston new york washington dc woodhead publishing limited cambridge england contents 2 foreword preface author contact details introduction 11 fatigue strength assessment of welded . Local approaches to fatigue assessment are used to predict the structural durability of welded joints to optimise their design and to evaluate unforeseen joint failures this standard work provides a systematic survey of the principles and practical applications of the various methods it covers the hot spot structural stress approach to fatigue in general the notch stress and notch strain . 1 introduction the fatigue life assessment of welded joints can be significantly improved by the use of local stress approaches indeed the lack of geometrical information in a global method eg a method based on the use of nominal stresses can result in rough fatigue life assessments especially when dealing with welded joints of complex geometry . Local approaches to fatigue assessment are used to predict the structural durability of welded joints to optimise their design and to evaluate unforeseen joint failures