Fatigue Life Prediction Research Articles

LIMITATIONS IN FATIGUE STRENGTH EVALUATION OF THE WEB-FLANGE CONNECTION OF STEEL RUNWAY BEAMS - А REVIEW

This study reviews the current state of research and limitations on the fatigue strength of web-flange connections in steel runway beams for overhead cranes. It evaluates key factors influencing fatigue strength, including stress-strain behavior, notch classifications, and various web-flange configurations (welded, rolled, combined). The research stresses the need for accurate fatigue life assessments, particularly for both new and older structures built with simplified standards. Key findings show the impact of notch classifications and stress interactions due to bending, tensile, and compressive forces. The study aims to improve calculation methods, offering recommendations for refining fatigue verification techniques, and assesses connection configurations' effectiveness in achieving desired fatigue life. The practical implications point to increased steel crane runway beams' durability through better fatigue life prediction and localized stress analysis.

Fatigue characterization and life prediction of flexible lattice structures based on DLP processes

This study investigated the effects of cell configuration and relative density on the fatigue performance of truss-like lattice structures. Among the lattice structures examined, simple cube cells exhibited the highest fatigue strength across all relative densities. Numerical simulation results indicated that the S-N curves of the structures demonstrated pronounced power-law behavior as the volume fraction changed. The influence of various geometric factors on the power-law model parameters is discussed in detail. The power-law coefficient is influenced by the unit cell configuration and relative density; however, the power-law index is not affected by relative density and depends solely on the unit cell configuration. A fatigue life prediction model based on the Ashby-Gibson model was proposed. Finally, the reliability of the numerical simulation results was experimentally verified, with the predicted results of the model showing good agreement with the test data.

Strain‐Controlled Low‐Cycle Fatigue Behavior of a Superalloy Considering Extensive Temperature Range and Stress Concentration

ABSTRACTThis study aims to investigate the low cycle fatigue (LCF) behavior and fatigue life prediction method of an advanced solid solution–strengthened nickel‐based superalloy at various temperatures and stress concentrations. Cylindrical specimens as well as plates with three types of holes (including straight holes and inclined holes with different orientations) were designed and machined for fatigue tests. The test results revealed fatigue life decreases with the temperature increasing. Meanwhile, the fatigue lives of the plate specimens have decreased differently and are strongly dependent on the geometry and orientation of the holes. The key damage parameter related to the fatigue life was found on the strain gradient path. A criterion based on strain gradient is defined as the boundary of the damage process zone. The results show that the prediction was in good agreement with the experimental data, for the majority of the data are within a scatter band of ±2.

A fast prediction method of fatigue life for crane structure based on Stacking ensemble learning model

To quickly obtain the fatigue life of cranes in service, the metal structure that determines the crane life is anchored. Meanwhile, the fast prediction method of fatigue life of crane metal structures based on the Stacking ensemble learning model is proposed. Firstly, in line with the structural stress method, the global rough model of the metal structure is established by the co-simulation technology to obtain the fatigue damage regions of the structure. The local fine model is constructed by local cutting and boundary condition transplantation to determine the critical weld at the failure regions. Secondly, through weld definition, equivalent structural stress acquisition, and fatigue life calculation, the sample data set with lifting load and trolley running position as input and fatigue life cycle times as output is constructed. Then, the Stacking integrated learning model combining gradient boosting, ridge regression, Extra Trees, and linear is built. On this basis, combined with the Miner theory, the rapid prediction of crane fatigue life is realized. Finally, the proposed method is applied to the QD40t × 22.5 m × 9 m general bridge crane. The results show that the life sample set constructed by the structural stress method is more accurate and reasonable than the nominal, hot spot, and fracture mechanics methods. The life prediction results of the Stacking integration model were improved by 6.3 to 49.2% compared to the single model. The method has theoretical and practical significance in reducing accidents and ensuring the safe operation of cranes.

Feature Transfer Learning for Fatigue Life Prediction of Additive Manufactured Metals With Small Samples

ABSTRACTA feature transfer learning (FTL)‐based model is proposed to address small‐sample problems in fatigue life prediction of additively manufactured (AM) metals. Transfer component analysis (TCA) is studied for data alignment before model training. Correspondingly, two TCA improvement strategies are further considered to aggregate training data from distinct AM processing conditions. An experimental database consisting of 103 fatigue data is built for model evaluation. The results demonstrate that the proposed model outperforms conventional machine learning models and other transfer learning‐based models in terms of accuracy and data demand, showing good applicability for AM fatigue life assessment.

Data-Enhanced Low-Cycle Fatigue Life Prediction Model Based on Nickel-Based Superalloys

Data-Enhanced Low-Cycle Fatigue Life Prediction Model Based on Nickel-Based Superalloys

Effect of initial temperature damage on the static and fatigue performance of all-lightweight shale ceramsite concrete

The effects of initial temperature damage on the static and compressive fatigue properties of LC30 all-lightweight shale ceramsite concrete (ALWSCC) were studied. The curing conditions ranged from -5 °C to -30 °C without antifreeze, with an elevated temperature range of 100 °C to 400 °C applied after 28 days of standard curing. We tested the static strength, elastic modulus, and stressstrain curves of ALWSCC, as well as its uniaxial compression fatigue life and ƐN curves under different stress levels. The credibility of data from only three test samples per condition was statistically analyzed, and we explored how temperature, aggregate properties, and concrete pore structure affect performance. The results indicate that the impact of temperature on the static and fatigue performance of ALWSCC can be described by a unified damage model. The Hillerborg characteristic length effectively captures the brittleness induced by temperature changes. Using the two-parameter Weibull equation and various fatigue equations that account for failure probability and temperature, the fatigue life predictions were accurate. Although low and high temperatures affect ALWSCC differently, temperature effects combined with static and fatigue loads further accelerate its deterioration.

Capability of different multiaxial fatigue evaluation approaches on adhesively butt-bonded hollow cylinders under multiaxial loading with variable amplitudes

Currently, there is a lack of reliable approaches for the fatigue assessment of adhesively bonded joints that are subject to multiaxial stresses with variable amplitudes. To improve the current situation, investigations are made on the capability of three multiaxial evaluation approaches based on fatigue tests of adhesively butt-bonded hollow cylinders under multiaxial loading with constant phase shift and variable amplitudes.The investigated approaches are the Gough-Pollard criterion, the Findley criterion and a new method presented here, which is based on a multiaxial counting method and an invariant equivalent stress hypothesis (MCES-Method).While the Gough-Pollard criterion has a low computational effort, it does not reflect the fatigue life extending effect due to a phase shift without using a fitting parameter that is not physically based. The Findley criterion is less suitable for the investigated multiaxial stress states (with and without phase shift), although the fatigue life prediction under these load conditions is at least conservative. The MCES-Method has the highest accuracy of the methods considered. By combining research findings from published papers in the context of adhesively bonded joints, all investigated load scenarios are estimated with high prognosis quality.

Research on the influence of out-of-plane loads on the fatigue life of metal structures

Abstract For civil aircraft structures, in-plane tensile, compressive, shear, and their combined forms of loads are the usual loads on plate and shell structures, while bending moments, torsion, and other forms of loads are mainly borne by assemblies consisting of multiple parts. However, some plate and shell structures are subjected to in-plane loads while also being affected by out-of-plane loads. In order to study the difference between the fatigue performance of plate and shell structures under the influence of out-of-plane load and the fatigue performance under the effect of pure in-plane load, the axial tensile fatigue test considering the out-of-plane load is carried out, which demonstrates the negative effect of the out-of-plane load on the axial tensile fatigue strength of the structure. At the same time, a new structural fatigue life prediction method considering out-of-plane loads is established by combining finite element analysis, which can more accurately predict the structural fatigue life under the influence of out-of-plane loads and provide support for metal structure fatigue analysis.

Vibration fatigue of film cooling hole structure of Ni-based single crystal turbine blade: Failure behavior and life prediction

The vibration fatigue failure behavior and fatigue life of the film cooling hole (FCH) structure of Ni-based single crystal superalloy were investigated at high temperature. The vibration fatigue test of the FCH specimens were carried out based on the paired staircase method. The cracks are mostly initiated in the stress concentration area at the edge of the FCH, and may also be initiated in non-stress concentrated areas with large defects. At high temperature, the crack initiation mechanism of the FCH specimens of Ni-based single crystal superalloy is oxidative cracking nucleation in stress concentration area, and the crack propagation mechanism is the competition mechanism of dislocation slip and dislocation climbing. Based on the Fatigue Indicator Parameter (FIP) of the critical plane method, a vibration fatigue life prediction model for FCH structures considering stress concentration and high temperature oxidation damage is proposed. The life prediction model proposed in this paper is applied to the vibration fatigue life prediction of FCH specimens. The deviation between the predicted results and the experimental results is within 2.5 times at 850℃, and the deviation is within 2 times at 980℃. Besides, the life prediction method proposed is compared with other two FIP life prediction methods, and the high accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed life prediction method are verified.

Contact fatigue life prediction of PEEK gears based on CTAB-GAN data augmentation

The contact fatigue life of PEEK gears is a critical fundamental data for the design of load-carrying capacity, which is significantly influenced by many factors such as material type, operating temperature, and loading level. Temperature effects must be considered during contact fatigue life prediction of PEEK gears. This article presents a predictive model for contact fatigue life of PEEK gears, utilizing the CTAB-GAN data augmentation. The CTAB-GAN data augmentation model expands the experimental dataset of contact fatigue lives of oil-lubricated PEEK gears. Then, a predictive formula was derived to estimate contact fatigue life of oil-lubricated PEEK gears considering the temperature dependent effect. Results revealed that the predicted fatigue lives of PEEK gears under different loading and temperature conditions based on the enhanced dataset are within a two-fold scatter band. The mean square error of predicted lives reduces by 30% compared to the life formula based on the original experimental data set. Furthermore a quantitative analysis was conducted on the influence of operating temperature and stress on the fatigue life of PEEK gears.

The hysteresis loop on the near-threshold fatigue crack growth curves generated by stepped load reduction and constant-amplitude loading methods in a Ni-based superalloy

Fatigue crack growth (FCG) tests were conducted on compact tension specimens made of a Ni-based superalloy to investigate the near-threshold FCG behaviors using both the stepped load reduction method (LRM) and the constant-amplitude loading method (CALM) at three stress ratios (R = 0.05, 0.5 and 0.7) under ambient condition. It is found that after the FCG threshold being approached by the LRM, a remarkable hysteresis plateau occurs on the subsequent FCG curve generated by the CALM for R ≤ 0.5, resulting a hysteresis loop on the near-threshold region, but the situation becomes complicated at R = 0.7. In the appearance of hysteresis plateau, the FCG life to fracture can be over 107 cycles longer than that without hysteresis plateau. For FCG rate faster than 10−8 m/cycle, the fractography is dominated by transgranular feature which is insensitive to the microstructure of the alloy. In the hysteresis plateau region where FCG rate is lower than 10−9 m/cycle, fractography shows a wide optical dark zone where microstructure-sensitive crystallographic facet feature dominates, while when no hysteresis at R = 0.7, the optical dark zone is too narrow for the fracture feature transition so that crystallographic facet, transgranular as well as mosaic features can be observed simultaneously. As FCG in the hysteresis plateau under the CALM can be significantly slower than that under the stepped LRM, it is recommend that the stepped LRM should be used to generate the material basic FCG curves for fatigue life prediction of high durability structures.

Fatigue Life Prediction of 2024-T3 Al Alloy by Integrating Particle Swarm Optimization-Extreme Gradient Boosting and Physical Model.

The multi-parameter characteristics of the physical model pose a challenge to the fatigue life prediction of 2024-T3 aluminum (Al) alloy. In response to this issue, a parameter-solving method that integrates particle swarm optimization (PSO) with extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) is proposed in this study. The fatigue performance and failure mechanism of the 2024-T3 Al alloy are analyzed. Furthermore, the fatigue life prediction physical model of the 2024-T3 Al alloy is established by using the energy method of fracture mechanics. The physical model incorporates critical physical parameters. Meanwhile, the PSO algorithm optimizes the hyperparameters of the XGBoost model based on fatigue data of the 2024-T3 Al alloy. Eventually, the optimized XGBoost model is used to solve the parameters of the physical model. Furthermore, the analytical equation of the fatigue life prediction model is obtained. This paper provides a new method for solving the parameters of the fatigue life prediction model, which reduces the error and cost of obtaining the model parameters in the experiment and shortens the time required.

Fatigue life prediction of BGA solder joint of several alloy compositions under an isothermal harmonic vibration

To ensure durable performance and optimal function of electronic components, it is crucial to guarantee their reliability, robustness and goodness of fit. The solder joints used in the BGA (Ball Grid Array) component play an intrinsic role in the reliability of the system. The vibration present in BGA triggers fatigue in solder joints, which raises a major reliability problem in various sectors such as aerospace, automotive and military industries. This study handles the response to a harmonic vibration at three specific temperatures (−40°C, 25°C, and 125°C) for four types of solder alloys in BGA Soldering. Within this framework, predicting the fatigue life of BGA solder joints with various alloy compositions under the influence of an isothermal harmonic vibration emerges as a crucial challenge in the design as well as reliability of modern electronic devices. The investigated solder compositions are SAC105, SAC305, SAC405, and InnoLot. To simulate and analyze the behavior of solder joints, we used the Ansys APDL finite element analysis (FEA). At both 125°C and −40°C, the Von Mises values proved to exceed those observed at 25°C. Likewise, an S-N curve for InnoLot and the different SACs, under a harmonic vibration at 25°C, was fitted using the Basquin power law relationship. As far as the current research work is concerned, an initial comparison was enacted between InnoLot and SAC alloys under an isothermal harmonic vibration, aiming to ascertain the most reliable alloy. The fatigue life under a harmonic vibration loading at 25°C was estimated. The results revealed that under a harmonic vibration at 25°C, the InnoLot solder displayed the longest lifespan, while the SAC105 solder exhibited the shortest fatigue life.

Research on the P‐S‐N Curve Fitting Method of Notched Specimens Considering Small Sample Properties

ABSTRACTAiming at the issue of fatigue test data for large‐scale mechanical components of building steel are very limited, a method for fitting P‐S‐N curves under small sample data of notched specimens is proposed to predict fatigue life. First, a fatigue life subsample augmented and its reliability assessment method are established, based on Bayesian hierarchical modeling and modified Monte Carlo method. Second, a clustering combination weighting method is proposed, to define weights of hidden variables of the binomial mixture Weibull distribution, and the expectation–maximization algorithm is used to determine probability density function of the distribution. Finally, the P‐S‐N curves under various failure probabilities are fitted with Weibull distributed life models, and the convergence and prediction accuracy of the different models are compared. The results show that the fatigue data of small samples can be predicted better by using mixed Weibull distribution, and the fitting P‐S‐N curve is more reliable and accurate.

Research on accelerated thermal fatigue testing and life prediction of Al-Si alloy pistons under start-stop cycles

As one of the most critical components in the combustion chamber of diesel engines, pistons operate under high temperature and pressure conditions for extended periods, which increases the likelihood of failures such as thermal fatigue. This paper first utilizes finite element simulation to obtain the temperature and stress field distribution of an Al-Si alloy piston under actual engine conditions. The results indicate that the throat area of the piston is the most susceptible to fatigue failure. Based on this, accelerated thermal fatigue tests were conducted to study the influence of various experimental factors on piston life, as well as to analyze the weight of each factor. Results from macroscopic and microscopic analyses of cracks using a scanning electron microscope show that fatigue cracks originate at the interface between the aluminum matrix and the detached hard particles. The cracking at the piston throat exhibits clear characteristics of ductile fracture, which is the result of cumulative fatigue damage. Therefore, from the perspective of continuum damage mechanics, it is considered to characterize the equivalent stress using the average loading rate during the loading phase and the maximum axial temperature gradient, establishing an experimental life prediction model for Al-Si alloy pistons.

Coupled effects of hygrothermal degradation and fatigue damage of sheet molding compound (SMC) composite

Industrial sheet molding compound (SMC) composite structures are susceptible to environmental degradation, primarily from moisture and temperature. Furthermore, these materials are subjected to fatigue loading. It is therefore necessary to generate Wohler curves for a range of service conditions, taking into account exposure time and temperature. Given the time-consuming nature of these preliminary characterizations, this paper presents an innovative approach to rapid fatigue life prediction using both monotonic and fatigue tests. The core concept of the proposed model is to establish an equation of state that correlates first-cycle macroscopic damage to fatigue life. By coupling this relationship with micromechanical modelling of quasi-static damage, we can rapidly determine SN curves for any considered aged state. The methodology also integrates the microstructure as an input, significantly reducing the need for extensive experimental characterization. A comparison between experimental and simulated Wöhler curves shows excellent agreement over different ageing conditions for SMC composites.

Analysis of tooth root three-dimensional fatigue crack initiation, propagation, and fatigue life for spur gear transmission

The gears in aviation gear systems are susceptible to fatigue fracture due to high-speed, heavy-load, and load alternation operating conditions. Therefore, a numerical calculation model with multiple mesh positions loading form has been proposed in this paper to analyze the fatigue crack initiation and propagation behavior, and to estimate the fatigue life of these gears. The fatigue life of the gear is determined by separately calculating the fatigue crack initiation life and the fatigue crack propagation life. The tooth root fatigue stress and the fatigue initiation life are calculated by the multi-axial fatigue life prediction method with the Smith-Watson-Topper criterion and the critical plane method. Afterwards, the tooth root stress–strain field is calculated in Finite element (FE) software and the stress intensity factors of the crack tip are calculated in three-dimensional (3D) crack analysis software. Then, the tooth root fatigue crack propagation trajectory and the fatigue crack propagation life are obtained separately. Finally, the influence mechanism of the loading conditions, the geometry parameters of gears, and the initial crack positions on the tooth root fatigue crack initiation life, propagation life, and fatigue crack propagation trajectory are analyzed, and a tooth fatigue test bench is built for verifying the crack propagation trajectory.

Damage Proportion Analysis of the Combined High and Low Cycle Fatigue Based on the Continuum Damage Mechanics

ABSTRACTA combined high and low cycle fatigue (CCF) life prediction model, considering creep, low‐cycle fatigue (LCF), high‐cycle fatigue (HCF) at the maximum LCF nominal stress (HLCF) damages, and the interaction damage between LCF and HLCF, is proposed. The proportions for these four types of damage in total CCF damage are quantified. Compared with the existing CCF models, the CCF model proposed in this paper considers creep damage in CCF and has higher accuracy. The escalation in HCF stress amplitudes leads to reduced CCF life owing to the augmentation of HLCF and interaction damages. The increase in the cycle ratio of HCF to LCF, causing a reduction in CCF life is ascribed to elevated HLCF and creep damages. The calculated damage proportion results from the proposed model are consistent with the observations of the fracture characteristics using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), indicating the necessity of considering creep damage in CCF life prediction at high temperatures.

Defect characteristics-based low-cycle fatigue life prediction model for additive manufactured Ti-6Al-4 V alloys

Volumetric defect is a significant factor that influences the fatigue life assessment accuracy in additive manufactured (AM) metals. In order to accurately assess the effects of volumetric defects on fatigue property of AM alloys, this study investigates the influence of geometric characteristics such as size, location, and shape of volumetric defects on low-cycle fatigue (LCF) properties. The results indicate that these factors have a significant influence on the fatigue life of material, and the volumetric defect location is found to be the most critical factor. In order to identify the critical volumetric defects on the fatigue fracture, a defect characteristic parameter “P” is proposed to characterize the influence of volumetric defect characteristics on the fatigue performance of material. Subsequently, a low-cycle fatigue life prediction model for AM metals that considers the geometrical characteristics of volumetric defects is established based on the relationship between P-parameter and low-cycle fatigue life. The accuracy of the prediction model is within 1.5x error band, which is significantly improved compared to the Manson-Coffin (M−C) model and Smith-Watson-Topper (SWT) model.