Rapid fatigue life prediction of butt joint using energy dissipation

•The microstructural movements corresponding to damaging and non-damaging parts are well correlated to the energy dissipation mechanism by introducing the RVE model.•A non-linear damage evolution model is obtained by utilizing the damage-related inelastic energy dissipation as an index.•This model enables a fast prediction of the high-cycle fatigue life of Q310NQL2-Q345NQR2 butt joints.•The P-S-N curves are well estimated by combining the maximum likelihood method.