Parametric Study of Fatigue Crack Growth in a Finite Plate

Fatigue crack propagation is an undesirable phenomenon that may lead to catastrophic failures in many components and structures, therefore it is important to understand its underlying mechanics. To that effect, systematic parametric studies of fatigue crack propagation laws are interesting to determine how fatigue life varies with the constants that define the mechanical behavior of a given material in a fatigue situation, such as the Paris’ law constants, fracture toughness (Kc) or the stress range ??. The parametric studies performed in the present work assess the influence of several parameters, assuming that failure occurs when K>Kc, but also when all the material ahead of the crack is yielding. It was found that m and C, the Paris’ law parameters, are the most influential parameters in terms of fatigue life. The present study should help future designers when choosing materials for components or structures subjected to cyclic loads.