Prediction of fatigue crack growth life under variable-amplitude loading using finite element analysis

摘要

This article presents an elastic-plastic study aiming at predicting the fatigue crack growth (FCG) of 2024-T3 aluminum alloys under variable-amplitude loading. The proposed analysis needs the estimation of the residual stress distribution ahead of the crack tip during propagation. An elastic-plastic FE analysis has been implemented for modeling FCG using Chaboche's model. The FE study has been carried out through consideration of the loading history effect using the memory rules. Three different loading spectra have been applied in this work. The obtained results have been compared to the experimental ones and it has been proved that the suggested model has a better prediction of the FCG lives of cracked 2024-T3 aluminum alloy structures subjected to variable-amplitude loading. (C) 2019 Academie des sciences. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.