PSI - Issue 77

6

Joa˜o Nuno Silva et al. / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2026) 000–000

João Nuno Silva et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 77 (2026) 657–664

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3. Case Study of Welded Steel Details

The steel welded joints analysed in this research form part of a rail freight wagon from the Sggr(s) 80’ series, developed for the Portuguese Smart Wagon project. This wagon comprises two articulated platforms, A and B, each approximately 40 feet long and designed to carry 20-, 30-, and 40-foot intermodal containers. All joints considered are part of the platform structure and use S355J2 + N plates with single-bevel, single-side, full-penetration welds. Figure 1 illustrates the joint geometries and the finite element model with stress results. Numerical analysis was conducted in ANSYS Workbench 2024 R1 ® using shell elements with a general mesh size of 20 mm. The load scenario, in accordance with EN 12663-2 standard, comprised combined transverse (( ± 0 . 2) × g ) and vertical load ((1 ± 0 . 3) × g ) load components, corresponding to a single 40-foot container. Loads were introduced to the numerical model by distributing the container mass over the wagon frame and applying the resulting forces directly to the locking points. The fatigue assessment verification was performed using the endurance-life approach.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Fig. 1: Welded joints case study numerical models with stress maps: a) Weld 1: Corner joint, b) Weld 2: Butt joint, c) Weld 3: T joint, d) Weld 4: T joint.

4. Results

To enable a fair comparison across all the design codes, the same load histories and identical detail classifications were applied in every verification. Where a standard requires modifying factors, the closest options were selected consistently (material grade, thickness, inspection class, consequence of failure, etc.). Consequently, the di ff erences presented in Table 1 reflect the fundamental design philosophies of each standard rather than input parameter choices. Table 1 presents the utilization ratios for two welded details under consistent input conditions. For Weld 1 (case a), all design codes identify the perpendicular normal stress component as the critical one, with the shear stress