This need is met by the present invention wherein structural stress in a fatigue-prone
region of a structure is determined by using the nodal forces and displacement
values in the fatigue-prone region, or equilibrium-equivalent simple stress states
consistent with elementary structural mechanics in the fatigue-prone region. The
determination is substantially independent of mesh size and is particularly well-suited
for applications where S-N curves are used in weld fatigue design and evaluation,
where S represents nominal stress or stress range and N represents the number of
cycles to failure. The present invention is directed to structural stress analysis
through various combinations of modeling, calculation, and direct measurement schemes.
