Numerical analysis of the ductile fracture of lap welded joints has been performed for a standard CT specimen. Mono-, bi- and trimetallic CT configurations were studied in order to compare the J-integral and CTOD global approaches with a local approach (Rice and Tracey model). It is found that the above change in configuration has no impact on evolution of the global parameters, while the void growth ratio R/R0 is very sensitive to the stress and strain fields around the crack tip. Furthermore, using the parameter R/R0 distribution at the crack tip, predicted the crack propagation direction in the case of lap welded joints.
