An assessment of a strain‐life approach for fatigue crack growth

Purpose – Fatigue crack growth models based on elastic‐plastic stress‐strain histories at the crack tip region and strain‐life damage models have been proposed. The UniGrow model fits this particular class of fatigue crack propagation models. The residual stresses developed at the crack tip play a central role in these models, since they are applied to assess the actual crack driving force. This paper aims to assess the performance of the UniGrow model based on available experimental constant amplitude crack propagation data, derived for several metallic materials from representative Portuguese bridges. It also aims to discuss key issues in fatigue crack growth prediction, using the UniGrow model, in particular the residual stress computation and the suitability of fatigue damage rules.Design/methodology/approach – The UniGrow model is assessed using data derived by the authors for materials from Portuguese riveted metallic bridges. Strain‐life data, from fatigue tests on smooth specimens, are used to pro...

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