WELDO: Welded structures with significantly increased fatigue life via new Digitalized Optimization
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | SWERIM AB |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 1 000 000 |
| Project duration | October 2024 - April 2025 |
| Status | Ongoing |
| Venture | Impact Innovation Net Zero industry - Program-specific efforts |
| Call | Impact Innovation: Increased resource efficiency and resilience, stage 1 |
Purpose and goal
The goal is to develop a digital platform that optimizes the composition of alloying elements in green steels with a focus on improved fatigue life, by evaluating how different alloys affect the geometric properties of the weld and thereby improve the fatigue strength of welded structures. Another objective is to lay the foundations for a full-scale project that further develops the technologies to reach full resource efficiency and reduced carbon dioxide emissions.
Expected effects and result
The digital platform enables quick and cost-effective analysis of how alloying elements in green steels affect weld quality. These models will provide good insights into how different alloys affect weld geometry and fatigue strength and enable a new type of optimisation. The project will also have identified important areas for continued research and development in green steels, weldability, and optimization of properties, as well as a plan for a subsequent full-scale project.
Planned approach and implementation
A combination of advanced simulation tools and statistical analysis of experimental data is used to analyze how variations in the alloying elements of the base material affect the geometry of the welds. The model will then be validated through experimental tests on small-scale cast- and rolled, adapted materials, which are welded and geometry analyzed in detail.