Crack Initiation and Propagation Fatigue Life Prediction for an A36 Steel Welded Plate Specimen

Fatigue crack initiation and propagation models predict the fatigue life of welded "T" specimens tested by the Fatigue Design and Evaluation (FDE) Committee of SAE under constant and variable amplitude load histories. The crack propagation equations stipulated by British Standard BS-7910 have been incorporated in a material memory model for cyclic deformation. The simulations begin with the crack initiation model and show how it is used to account for cyclic mean stress relaxation and the effects of periodic overloads. After the cracks initiate the BS-7910 model is applied to predict the crack advance due to either constant or variable amplitude histories. Simulation results correspond to the experimental results with good accuracy.