The headed stud connectors are widely used in a variety of innovative engineering applications of the infrastructure sector. The fatigue life of headed studs is significantly affected by the residual stress introduced from welding procedures. It is very important to develop a reliable numerical method to predict the fatigue performance of headed stud connectors. In this paper, the efficiency of fatigue life prediction, using the nominal stress (NS) and the hot spot stress (HSS) methods based on finite element simulation, is compared. The limitation using the NS method to predict the fatigue life of studs is discussed in this paper. The efficiency of the HSS analysis technique is validated by the fatigue test results in the literature.@en