Hysteresis and Incremental Collapse of Complex Structures: A Paradigm for theFatigue Failure of Materials

摘要

The basic objective of this research program is to characterize the developmentof material fatigue by means of stress-strain hysteresis and acoustic emission measurements. We have conjectured that the accumulation and organization of damage in material fatigue is similar to the progressive failure of structures under cyclic loading. And, specifically, that the endurance limit of a material in fatigue is the analogue of the incremental collapse load of a structure. Since the principal features of the service life and failure of structures can be completely described by hysteresis methods, it is plausible that similar means can be used to characterize the inception and organization of microplastic processes in materials. All of the experimental results obtained during the current research program confirm these conjectures.