Fatigue Analysis

Techniques

Darrell Socie
Mechanical Engineering
University of Illinois
 Fatigue Analysis
Techniques

! Load-Life
! Stress-Life
! BS 5400 ( Eurocode 3 )
! Strain-Life
! Crack Growth
 Common Features

! Constant amplitude test data

! Rainflow
! Linear damage
 Load-Life Data

1000
Lateral Force, kN

100

10
1E+0 1E+1 1E+2 1E+3 1E+4 1E+5 1E+6 1E+7

Cycles
 Stress-Life Data

10000
Stress Amplitude, MPa

1000

100
1E+0 1E+1 1E+2 1E+3 1E+4 1E+5 1E+6 1E+7

Cycles
BS 5400 ( Eurocode 3 ) Data

400
Steel
Stress Range, MPa

B
300 C
D
200
E

100
F F2 G W
0
105 106 107 108
BS 5400 ( Eurocode 3 ) Data

125 Aluminum
Stress Range, MPa

100
B

75 C

50
D
25 E
F
0
105 106 107 108
Cycles
BS 5400 ( Eurocode 3 )
Weld Class F
 Strain-Life Data
∆ε - 2Nf

1
Strain Amplitude

0.1

0.01

0.001

0.0001

0.00001
1E+0 1E+1 1E+2 1E+3 1E+4 1E+5 1E+6 1E+7

Reversals
Strain-Life Data σ−ε

600

500
Stress Amplitude

400

300

200

100

0
0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014

Strain Amplitude
 Crack Growth Data
Crack Growth Rate, m/cycle

1E-6

1E-7

1E-8

1E-9

1E-10

1E-11

1E-12
1.00E+00 1.00E+01 1.00E+02

Cyclic Stress Intensity, MPa m

Rainflow Counting

A G I
C

B
D F
 Hysteresis Loops
A G I
C

B
D F

C G A, I

D, F B
 Damage Accumulation

! Miner’s Linear Damage Rule

" Σ Ni / Nf = 1
 Load-Life

! Major Assumption
" Loads used to generate
baseline data are the same as
service loading
 Load-Life

! Advantages
" Actual test of structure
" Manufacturing and local stress
concentration effects
automatically included
" Stress analysis is not needed
 Load-Life

! Limitations
" Actual test of structure
" New tests required for each
change in material, loading or
geometry
" Mean stress effects can not be
included
 Stress-Life

! Major Assumptions
" Nominal stresses and material
strength control fatigue life
" Accurate determination of Kf
for each geometry and material
 Notched S-N Curve

10000
Stress Amplitude

1000

100 Kt or Kf

10
1E+00 1E+01 1E+02 1E+03 1E+04 1E+05 1E+06 1E+07
Cycles
 Stress-Life

! Advantages
" Changes in material and
geometry can easily be
evaluated
" Large emperical database for
steel with standard notch
shapes
 Stress-Life

! Limitations
" Does not account for notch
root plasticity
" Mean stress effects are often
in error
" Requires emperical Kf for good
results
BS 5400 ( Eurocode 3 )

! Major Assumptions
" Complex weld geometries can
be described by a standard
classification
" Crack growth dominates
fatigue life
" Results independant of
material and mean stress for
structural steels
 BS 5400 ( Eurocode 3 )

1000
Stress Range, MPa

Fatigue Limit
100

No Fatigue Limit
10
1E+05 1E+06 1E+07 1E+08

Cycles
BS 5400 ( Eurocode 3 )

! Advantages
" Manufacturing effects are
directly included
" Large emperical database
exists
BS 5400 ( Eurocode 3 )

! Limitations
" Difficultto determine weld
class for complex shapes
" No benifit for improving
manufacturing process
Welded Structure
 Strain-Life

! Major Assumptions
" Local stresses and strains
control fatigue behavior
" Accurate determination of Kf
 Strain-Life

! Advantages
" Plasticity
effects
" Mean stress effects
Mean Strain Example
Tensile Mean Stress
Compressive Mean
Stress
 Neuber’s Rule

1000

800

600
Stress

400

200

0
0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014
Strain

2
Kf ∆ S ∆ e = ∆σ ∆ε
 Strain-Life

! Limitations
" Requires emperical Kf
" Long life situations where
surface finish and processing
variables are important
 Crack Growth

! Major Assumptions
" Nominal stress and crack size
control fatigue life
" Accurate determination of
initial crack size
 Crack Growth

! Advantage
" Only method to directly deal
with cracks
 Crack Growth

! Limitations
" Sequence effects
∆Keff = f ( ∆K )
" ∆K = E ∆e Y( a ) √ a
" Accurate determination of ai
 Crack Closure

Crack Opened Crack Closed

 Crack Opening Load

Damaging portion of loading history

Opening load

Nondamaging portion of loading history

 Applications

! Material Selection /
Improvement
! Fillet Weld
! Scaling / Editing Load
Histories
! Crack Size / Shape
 Transmission History

1000

800

600
Nominal Strain

400

200

-200

-400

-600
 Material Properties

BHN 187 277 336 410 545

σ 'f ,MPa 1668 2978 3902 4593 5666

b -0.149 -0.158 -0.159 -0.167 -0.170

ε 'f 0.556 0.700 0.563 0.381 0.068

c -0.522 -0.578 -0.595 -0.589 -0.603
K’, MPa 1460 1743 2051 2381 4438
n’ 0.234 0.189 0.163 0.172 0.169

E, GPa 206 206 208 206 205

 Strength Variation

600

500
Hardness, BHN

400

300

200

100

0
1E+03 1E+04 1E+05 1E+06 1E+07
Blocks
 Kf Variation

4.5

4
Fatigue Notch Factor

3.5

2.5

1.5
1E+03 1E+04 1E+05 1E+06 1E+07
Blocks
Scale Factor Variation

1.5
Scale Factor

0.5

0
1E+03 1E+04 1E+05 1E+06 1E+07
Blocks
 Cycle Histogram

25
counts

0
0 -1000
ran E)
ge n ( u
(uE a
) me
1500 1000
 ε-N Damage

10
% damage

0
0 -50
s
ran
ge stres
(uE a n
) me
1500 50
Weld Geometry

Crack Depth
 Geometry Factor

3.0

2.5

2.0
Y ( a/W )

1.5

1.0

0.5

0.0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
a/W
 Crack Length

0.005

0.004
Crack Length, m

0.003

0.002

0.001

0
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Blocks