Development of a strain-based methodology for the determination of toughness and defect acceptance criteria for welds in thin-walled steel structures

Welded steel structures can be subjected to large plastic deformations, e.g. due to earthquakes or ground settlements. A model will be developed for the determination of the acceptability of weld defects. Specific testing procedures for the determination of toughness and defect acceptability will be investigated. The different influence parameters will be studied by means of numerical simulations and large-scale experiments.