Application of spectral method in fatigue life assessment – determination of crack initiation

The purpose of this paper is to provide a simple approach for indication of those places of machine parts, where the fatigue crack initiation begins. This method uses FEM and the cyclic stress-strain curve for calculating the stress state on specimens. The multiaxial fatigue failure criterion based on the critical plane approach was used for reduction of the random spatial stress state into the equivalent uniaxial one. The critical plane position was established with the use of the variance method, and fatigue life was determined with assumption of linear damage accumulation. Experimental verification of the proposed method was performed with the use of results of fatigue tests for St52.3 structural steel subjected to biaxial random tension-compression. Cruciform specimens with four holes were tested. During the tests, the place and time of crack initiation were observed. It was shown, that the proposed method for determination of the places of fatigue crack initiation gave results well correlated with the data obtained from experiments. The proposed method could be applied by engineers in order to identify the places and time of fatigue cracks initiation.