An Evaluation of Elber-Type Crack Retardation Models

In this work, a review of plasticity induced crack closure is presented, along with models proposed to quantify its effect on the subsequent crack growth rate. The stress state dependence of crack closure is discussed. Overload-induced retardation effects on the crack growth rate are considered, based on the crack closure idea, and improvements to the traditional models are proposed to account for crack arrest and crack acceleration after compressive underloads. Using a general-purpose fatigue design program, the models and the proposed modifications are compared with experimental results from various load spectra, and with simulated histories illustrating their main features.