Book excerpt: The Welding Engineer's Guide to Fracture and Fatigue provides an essential introduction to fracture and fatigue and the assessment of these failure modes, through to the level of knowledge that would be expected of a qualified welding engineer. Part one covers the basic principles of weld fracture and fatigue. It begins with a review of the design of engineered structures, provides descriptions of typical welding defects and how these defects behave in structures undergoing static and cyclical loading, and explains the range of failure modes. Part two then explains how to detect and assess defects using fitness for service assessment procedures. Throughout, the book assumes no prior knowledge and explains concepts from first principles. - Covers the basic principles of weld fracture and fatigue. - Reviews the design of engineered structures, provides descriptions of typical welding defects and how these defects behave in structures undergoing static and cyclical loading, and explains the range of failure modes. - Explains how to detect and assess defects using fitness for service assessment procedures.