Application of Computational Fracture Mechanics in Fatigue Life Prediction and Materials/Processes Selection for Truck and Automotive Components

摘要

Fatigue life (S-N, stress vs. cycles, curves) simulations were performed using the computational fracture mechanics CRACKS software. First, fatigue life computational simulation results were verified by comparing with gear teeth bending fatigue test data and three point bending fatigue test data. Then the computational program was used to evaluate the effect of various factors on fatigue life S-N curves. The factors included steel's fatigue and fracture properties, residual stress distributions and initial defect sizes. Computational fracture mechanics was shown to be a useful tool in simulating gear bending fatigue behavior and generating S-N curves computationally.