A Comparison of Fatigue Life Estimation on the Frequency Domain with Test Data and Time Domain Calculations

This paper focus on some of the fatigue methodologies based on the frequency domain and how they can be used on the heavy vehicle industry. A calculation flow was developed which consist of two steps. At first the stresses on the desired frequency bandwidth are calculated using a finite element software and those are then used as inputs on a Matlab script that estimate the expected life using two different theories, Bendat’s narrow band and Dirlik. The proposed methodology is then compared with more established time domain calculations. At first a plain hand calculation with a simpler input is performed on both domains before evaluating the differences with a more complex random stress signal input. Finally, test data from a rig test is used to validate the frequency domain fatigue methods using real life data. Results are in accordance with the bibliography by showing that Bendat approach delivers more conservative results, while Dirlik presents a good correlation with both time domain calculations and measured test data.